Boogeymen Gaiden: The Thief Of Always
by Legend Maker
Summary: This year...the terror's unknown. Unforgiving. And IN 3D.  Note: Story is not actually in 3D.
1. Murmurs of Red

_**Boogeymen Gaiden: The Thief Of Always**_

Part 1: Murmurs of Red

When Gauntlet opened the drawer, his favorite shirt wasn't there. After a few seconds, he realized that _none _of his shirts, or pants were there either.

"…Did I forget to do laundry this season?" Gauntlet said, pawing through the clothes. Instead of his usual shirts and jeans, the chest of drawers was now full of dark green one-piece outfits, along with strange metal headbands. As Gauntlet discovered, much to his annoyance, they were the only clothes in his room save the boxers he'd gone to sleep in and the towel he had tied around him.

"…this stinks of Gar." Gauntlet said, and having no choice, ultimately dressed himself in the strange costumes. The clothing felt odd on his form, like he was wearing a heavier version of a leotard. At least his shoes were the same.

"I guess he's still sore about me signing him…up for that…Meat of the Week…club…?" Gauntlet said as he exited his room, staring at the rusty metal wall in front of him. After a moment, he turned around to confirm that his room was still there. He then turned around to look at the rusty wall and the dark hallway it was attached to.

"…do we have an enemy called Rustman?" Gauntlet said, looking down the hallway. "Anyone? Hello?"

Gauntlet's voice echoed down the hallway, generating no response. Running his thumb over his gauntlet-ring, Rob debated for a few seconds and then reached for his communicator.

Only to realize it was nowhere in his costume. Returning and tossing his room also failed to turn it up.

"Oh great. Did someone buy a cursed tree for Arbor Day or something?" Gauntlet said, manifesting his namesake and heading down the hallway. After a minute of wandering, he exited out into a familiar sight: the Titans' kitchen.

With one notable difference: the woman sitting at the table with her face in a bowl of cereal.

"Ack!" Gauntlet said, sprinting over and pulling the woman out. "Are you…"

The words died in Gauntlet's mouth. The strangeness of the situation had kept him from noticing the woman's familiar faded robe, and the particular gray pattern in her hair. But brought face to face with the woman made it crystal clear.

It was his mother.

Cold to the touch beneath his hand.

"OH GOD-!"

The needles flew out of nowhere, burying itself in Gauntlet's arm.

His Gauntlet arm, to be precise. The ancient tech stopped the thin blades before they could reach flesh, even as Gauntlet instinctively recoiled away from the attack. Miho's head dropped down to the table again, revealing the similar needle buried in the back of her neck.

"Well…that's new."

Gauntlet didn't recognize the raspy voice, but he recognized the movement quickly enough to dodge out of the way of the next spray of needles.

"On the other topic, I think He abandoned your cursed line a long time ago, Candide." The form said, slipping out of the shadows. The gray unisex uniform the figure wore completely obscured its gender, and the only distinguishing characteristic besides it was a long strand of cloth tied to the figure's head, said strand a mix of colors arrayed in perfectly organized stripes. "But don't worry. You can go speak with your whore of a mother…"

The grey figure, much like Gauntlet had, just barely dodged the yellow energy fist before it smashed a hole through the wall where it had been.

"…Also new." The grey figure said. "Well, heaven help me if I ever seek boredom!"

The figure flicked a hand out, Gauntlet barely able to follow the motion to see that the gray form had touched its multi-colored headband. Inside of a second, color flashed over its drab uniform, turning the whole costume crimson red even as it slashed out said hand towards him.

Gauntlet immediately re-manifested his shield in front of him. The needles impacted on it…and exploded, spraying out a scarlet mist. Gauntlet felt the temperature drop by what felt like a hundred degrees, the teenager recoiling backwards as frost manifested on his clothing and hair, it's talons of cold digging into his muscles and bones.

"Ugh. Time to…take this outside…!" Gauntlet said, doing a side roll and leaping towards the window…

Or rather, where he thought the window was. This time, he was confronted with a pulsing green wall of what appeared to be some sort of crystal. Gauntlet recovered well, turning his planned-escape into a tight ricochet off said wall; needles impacted where he had just been, exploding into a green fog of their own that immediately began dissolving the mysterious barrier. Gauntlet hit the ground and rolled into the nearest doorway, which lead to a familiar hallway of the Titans Tower that Rob had walked down a thousand times before.

"Okay Freddy or Mad Mod or WHOEVER you are, SHUT OFF THAT LOTUS EATING MACHINE RIGHT NOW!" Gauntlet yelled, sprinting down the hallway. "NOT FOOLED ANY MORE! NOPE! NOT AT ALL!"

The needles erupted from the shadows. This time, they exploded when blocked, throwing Gauntlet out of the hallway room and into what appeared to be some sort of laboratory.

"I suppose it's only fitting that the joke who somehow got the last laugh on the Ito clan would babble nonsense in the moment of his demise." The color-based assassin said as s/he appeared from the darkness, the shifting costume now a deep purple.

"You know, the idea of camouflage is to be the same color as your environment." Gauntlet said.

"It served well enough against your mother."

The fist slashed through the air at the color assassin, before veering away at the last moment. Gauntlet spun with the move, whirling the energy weapon around and slamming it into the caught-off-balance assassin, hammering him/her against the wall and pinning them there.

"Whatever's in that needle BETTER WEAR OFF." Gauntlet snarled.

The assassin's sole response was to whip out a hand towards the wall. Gauntlet saw the assassin's outfit change to orange a second before the needles struck the wall, erupting with such blinding light that Gauntlet felt like someone had rammed said needles directly into his eyes. He staggered back, trying to recover his sight and protect himself.

"There is no cure for mortality, fool. Much like stupidity." The raspy voice whispered in his ear, Gauntlet completely unaware of his attacker's presence until they spoke. "But you are an ill I will gladly…"

Gauntlet lunged forward, and the assassin recoiled to defend. It was a wasted effort, as Gauntlet did not attempt an offense. Instead, he literally charged at the wall that he was only vaguely aware was in front of him.

"YEAH I'M GONNA GO NOT BE FOOLED SOMEWHERE ELSE!"

The yellow energy fist slammed into the metal before Gauntlet. It gave beneath Gauntlet's attack…

With a sensation that somehow alarmed Gauntlet even more. It felt like he was punching through a cross between old fruit and a rotten tooth instead of a steel and wood wall. The sensation was made worse by the fact that Gauntlet's sight still hadn't quite recovered…

Which it abruptly did. Far too fast.

Just in time for Gauntlet to see the wall in front of him tear away, vanishing into a whirling abyss that was painful to look at. A moment later, Gauntlet felt a force seize onto every cell in his body.

"Come on in, Robby-Bobby. It's one _hell _of a time."

"…okay, leaning away from Mad Mod." Gauntlet said, and then the void consumed him.


	2. The Gray Forgotten

Part 2: The Gray Forgotten

Unlike some of his empowered peers, Gauntlet had never been struck by the dream, or the need, to fly. As he put it, flying was what airplanes were for, and doing it _sans _plane reminded him uncomfortably of swimming, except if you did it wrong you fell 30,000 feet.

His current experience wasn't doing much to change his mind, as he plummeted down through the violating prism of colors that the void was composed of. Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that, in addition to the fall, what he was seeing was not only painful, but seemingly scrambling his mind. It may have been one of his favored jokes, but in reality purple tasted anything but good.

"Ugh! It tastes like…Lutefiske!" Gauntlet said. Perhaps fortunately for the Titan, he was not of the mindset to wonder what the heck he was breathing in this chaotic mess of an existence. All he wanted was to get out of there, or at least go someplace where he wasn't simultaneously hearing a song and feeling it run daggers of heat up and down his spine.

"…okay, some help would be good! Anyone? Help?" Gauntlet yelled. "Guys? Superman? Batman? Mas Y Menos? SPOILER? I PROMISE I WON'T MAKE FUN OF YOUR NAME ANY MORE IF YOU HELP ME!"

No one came to help Gauntlet, but as it turned out, he didn't need it, as his Gauntlet lit up and yellow energy surged out from within. It settled over his head, cutting off the painful, mind-warping sensations and reducing the sights around him from mentally destructive to merely highly disagreeable.

"…Huh. Those guys with the tinfoil were on to something." Gauntlet said, blinking a few times to moisten his dry eyes. Now that he could actually see, somewhat, Gauntlet turned himself over so that his feet were aimed in the downward direction he was falling and looked around.

It was really hard to properly describe it, but the best Gauntlet could do was that he was in a world of gigantic strings. They twisted and contorted through the seemingly endless dimension, and no sooner had Gauntlet managed to identify them then he watched two of them crash together. Snapped off cords and lines appeared to fly off from the impact, slicing into adjacent strings. It did not take Gauntlet long to realize that he was clearly in the middle of some sort of chain reaction, on a scale that made his head hurt.

"…You know, I remember back when I believed in the reality my senses provided me." Gauntlet said, even as he continued to fall. The recollection of said fact of his plummet made him look down.

He managed to see the two dimensional strings crash into each other beneath him about a second and a half before he impacted against it.

"Bug-"

The sensation of landing against the clashing strings was a first. Gauntlet, if pressed for an explanation, would have described it as feeling like he was stomping on grapes, treading water, and getting fed into a meat grinder all the same time. However, this very strange sensation was quickly eclipsed by what happened next.

Sometimes, the experience felt like Gauntlet was remembering it; the other times, it felt like he was watching it on a screen before him, an odd constant viewpoint shift that sometimes manifested in dreams. And the first thing he saw…

Was Sophie sitting in a chair.

"Oh hey Sophie. Any idea what's going on?"

"_Hello. Welcome to another episode of the Fiction Gourmand.__"__ Sophie said. Her chair was positioned in what seemed like the average living room/den of any suburban house, and the chubby girl was dressed in business casual, her feet clad in sandals without socks, one leg crossed over the other. She spoke as if she had not heard Gauntlet or had any idea that he was there._

"Is there a camera I'm missing?" Gauntlet said.

"_In this episode, we will be returning to the cream of the crap that the Internet still insists on calling __'__fan fiction__'__, though any fan that__…"_

Gauntlet suddenly felt himself get yanked backwards, like he'd been caught by a hook from a classic vaudeville show. Sophie faded away in a flash, and moments later Gauntlet saw something else.

_It was strange. One of the usual jokes Robin usually heard was how he didn__'__t fight crime, his utility belt did. For the most part, Robin let it slide. His belt may have greatly helped in many battles, but he had never seen it punch a bad guy in the face or dive off a building to catch a would-be suicide, among many other events._

_Those facts, however, did not keep him from missing it now. True, he was missing everything else, his costume having been replaced with stinking clothes that would have been better served on a stereotypical homeless, but the fact that he didn__'__t have his belt made his clothes and missing mask seem less important. Mainly because he wasn__'__t alone in the junkyard._

_As far as gangs went, Robin had seen more colorful and creative types. The masses of men (and maybe some women, Robin couldn__'__t really tell) before him all dressed roughly the same, in battered jeans and leather jackets of various colors. All of them were bald, some of them with various metal chunks either glued or pieced onto their heads, and every one of the men wore strange visor-like sunglasses that Robin could have sworn he__'__d seen before. The weapons they held, ranging from knives to futuristic laser pistols, was another odd mishmash, but Robin could tell that in intent, every single one of these people was the same._

_Nihilistic savagery. A singular, burning need to do harm and damage, simply for the sake of it, all on the basis that nothing mattered save the brief rush of adrenaline and psychosis. Robin had fought those types before, many times. He could not, however, recall ever having to fight them in such numbers__…_

"_That is because the truth is finally encroaching, young mythstake.__"__ The voice said. Robin glanced upward at the form stand/leaning on some nearby wrecked cars. The demonic body, caved of stone, was a stark contrast to the gang members. From the dark emanations Robin felt from the creature, though, it was clear their cores were the same. The rest was details._

"_Give up__…__and perhaps you will die swiftly. Perhaps not, but let me assure you, you will die.__"__ The creature said. Several low chuckles came from the gang members._

"…_Oh, I__'__m sorry. You__'__re speaking to me? I thought you were speaking to the person who HADN__'__T gotten into a fistfight with stone men on a semi-weekly basis.__"__ Robin said, raising his hands in a combat stance. The stone gargoyle let out a nasty, wheezing laugh in response._

"_Kill him.__"_

"_You__'__ll try.__"__ Robin said, the guns swinging in his direction, before he cartwheeled to the side. The missed shots torn into the far-from-stable wreckage behind it and sent it tumbling forward, forcing the gang members to back up and scatter._

"_GET IT IN GEAR MUTANTS! CRUSH HIS-!__"__ The gang member spat out before Robin__'__s fist made him swallow several teeth. Robin took a moment to swipe the crowbar the Mutant had before he introduced it to the second Mutant__'__s chest. It wasn__'__t a staff, but it would do. It might even let him survive._

_Maybe._

"…Okay, fine. But I see so much as one TV screen with Jimmy Olsen on it, I'm bolting!" Gauntlet said, having seen the whole scene play out before him. His sense of placement based on the idea that he was on another pile of rubble, Gauntlet pushed himself forward…

Even as the fight refracted and shifted, and Gauntlet suddenly found himself back in the room with Sophie.

"_I__'__d review this after all the copyright lawsuits go through, but I__'__m not wanting to wait until they make the next in this god-awful series. Apparently the writer thinks this too, as the third one has been sitting half-finished for the better part of THREE YEARS. On the internet, most everyone can see you procrastinate!__"_

"…Sophie. Who are you talking to?" Gauntlet said. Sophie did not even glance in Gauntlet's direction.

"_The series likes to proclaim__…"_

Gauntlet found himself falling through the floor.

"BELGIUM!"

* * *

_It was hard to recognize Terra: the only tip-off Gauntlet had was her hair. Instead of the shorts, T-shirt, __'__battle jacket__'__ and goggles the young woman usually wore, Terra was instead dressed in a full-body costume, said costume a mix of brown colors and with a full face-mask with odd horn-like extensions from the side of her head and a pair of smaller, antenna-like extensions on her forehead. Beyond her long blonde hair extending from the back of the mask in a tightly-wounded braided ponytail, only Terra__'__s eyes and mouth were exposed._

"Tara? Was there an explosion at the earth-tones factory?" Gauntlet said. He was only aware of the presence before it literally forced its way through him. "BLARGH!"

"_That__'__s it then. No turning back now.__"__ The young man said. His costume was also a full-body one, though his was green and gold and laid out in a different pattern. And if what Gauntlet had felt was correct, he__'__d walked through Gauntlet like a ghost._

"_Don__'__t wanna__…"__ Terra said. __"__But__…__you sure we can handle it?__"_

"_It__'__s in the blood, Tara. No vampire can ever understand that.__"_

"…_that never helped their prey.__"__ Terra replied, as the ground shuddered violently, a mountain rising up before them._

_The people clutched in the stone before them screamed, moaned, and agonized, the rock and dirt clenching around them like jaws chewing on a meal. The form that stood on the rock protrusion off the mountain was composed of what appeared to be seething lava carved into the shape of a human being._

"_BARON JACE!__"__ The young man yelled._

"_That name__…__no longer applies, you royalist genetic trash.__"__ The stone man said. __"__I am__…__The World. You and your sister__…__have served your purpose.__"_

"_You bastard.__"__ Terra hissed, her eyes glowing gold._

"_You are the bastard, Markov. But don__'__t worry. You can die like all the rest of your country. We all came from the earth, and they shall all return to it. Dust to dust.__"_

"_Actually, Jace, I think you__'__re the one who will be RIP in a bit. That__'__s pieces by the way. You will NEVER find peace for what you__'__ve done!__"__ The young man said, orbs of fiery energy erupting around his hands._

"_Fools. I put the seed of your powers in your blood. I have spent my life since perfecting the process. You are second-rate experiments of a lost and fallen regime. I am the future.__"_

"_EAT DIRT.__"__ Terra retorted, rock erupting beneath her as she and her companion flew towards the world._

"Don't know what's going on, don't care, DEFINITELY PUNCHING THAT!" Gauntlet yelled, lunging to join the charge…before existence shattered and Gauntlet felt himself tumbling once more.

"…Okay, either I've gone insane, or reality has. I vote reality." Gauntlet said. "Because I can FIX REALITY AND PUNCH WHOEVER DID THI-!"

_Cyborg, at least, looked like he normally did. The abnormal thing was his arm flying off. Well, that, and he seemed to be on a ranch in the middle of a snowstorm, but the arm issue was somewhat more attention-drawing._

"_SUNNAVA-!__"__ Cyborg said, instinctively clamping his left hand on the sparking stump his right arm now was. One would think it was bad enough to lose an arm, but Cyborg had it even worse. He didn__'__t really feel it as pain, but he also knew that it wasn__'__t the average force or attack that could cut through his specialized-designed armor plating like it was cloth._

"_Daughter, actually, and that__'__s too soft a word.__"__ His attacker said, having rolled and leapt up into a stop after her glancing slash. There was something oddly familiar about the girl, but Cyborg couldn__'__t put his finger just on WHAT. He didn__'__t recognize her semi-harsh features, or her short-cut black hair, or the dark combat uniform she was wearing (including what appeared to be some sort of flexible metal chest piece, which didn__'__t make any sense as there was no kind of metal Cyborg knew that acted like rubber)._

_Perhaps it was the way she__'__d sprouted blades over her fingers, the razor-sharp weapons having been the means that had slashed off his arm. There was an aspect of that that Cyborg found all TOO familiar._

"_I don__'__t know how you came back, Ordnance, but you picked the wrong way to do it. Crossing my family__'__s bad news. Hurting my baby sister, well__…"__ The girl said, black energy sparking on the tip of one of her claws._

"_What? Who? Who__'__s Ordnance?__"_

"_Nice try, but you have to-!__"__ The girl cut off as she dashed towards Cyborg at inhuman speed._

_Fortunately, it was not quite computer speed. Cyborg__'__s sonic cannon took the girl square in the chest, throwing her backwards and smashing her through a fence._

"_I am TELLING YOU, I AM NOT THIS ORDNANCE!__"__ Cyborg yelled, even as he reconverted his intact arm to his hand before kneeling down and picking up his amputated arm. Cables sprang from both the limb and his body, bringing it together as nanomachines were released to repair the damage. __"__Please, calm down! We__…__we__…"_

_It was clear from the girl__'__s expression as she got up from the sonic blast that she wasn__'__t listening to a word Cyborg said. Her eyes, afire with rage, sparked more black energy__…__even as metal manifested upwards from her hands, coating her arms with bladed shards, the dark material expanding up her shoulders and her face, encasing her hair into a field of long thin swords. Said metal had also expanded down her torso, merging with her chest armor and placing talons of metal from her knees._

"_YOUUUUUUUUU.__"__ The girl hissed._

"_No one can say I didn__'__t try.__"__ Cyborg said, manifesting his cannon again as the girl took to the air._

"Okay reality if you crap out on me THIS TIME…!" Gauntlet said, before he felt himself sinking into the ground. "BUGGERRRRRR!"

"_They__'__re not horror, not true horror anyway. They__'__re gore, gore, and more gore done to superheroes and villains; you__'__d think Dan Didio was in charge of this project!__"__ Sophie said. __"__As for the number of sequels, they just follow the trend of getting more numerous and less palatable as the number goes up. And sticking GAIDEN at the end of the title doesn__'__t excuse things, Legend Maker; all it does is make things confusing when you abruptly publish __**Boogeymen Reborn: More Messy Action With Horror Serial Numbers Filed On!**__ If I wanted to watch a giant mess, I__'__d go throw my dinner against a wall and observe how long it takes to slide down, or go rent __**The Last Airbender!**__**"**_

"SHUT UP AND HELP ME, CINEMA SOPHIE!"

"_YOU CAN__'__T HAVE RAMONA! YOU__'__LL NEVER TAKE RAMONA!__"__ Beast Boy yelled. Gauntlet barely recognized him: instead of his whole body, only his hair was green. Between that, his costume having been replaced with jeans and a T-Shirt with a mushroom on it, and the fact that he was holding a flaming sword, Gauntlet would have thought he was a completely different person from the back, had he not still had his voice. __"__And if you DO take Ramona, she__'__ll be back to me in a few chapters, next book at the most! That__'__s the dynamic!__"_

"_Please stop being post-modern. It does not work for you.__"__ The doctor said, lifting a laser rifle. __"__Do you know what WOULD work for you? MY NEW DEATH RAY! Well, technically it would work for anyone, and all the same way__…__but since you__'__re being targeted, it will currently work for you!__"_

"_Your banter sucks! Like your MOM!__"_

"_My mother died when I was four, asshole!__"__ The doctor said, firing a blast of destructive energy that Beast Boy dodged._

"_Oh god, I__'__m so sorry! I__'__m sure she was a great mo-YAHHHHHH!__"__ Beast Boy yelped as the second shot caught him and tossed him against a nearby fire hydrant. __"__OW! Where did you even MEET this guy? He__'__s not your muscly, slacker type, he__'__s a geek!__"_

"_Couple of Comicons where I was paid to cosplay.__"__ Beast Boy__'__s companion said. It took Gauntlet a moment to see through her also different clothing (that being a punky one-piece dress, heavy boots with stockings, and purple-dyed hair) to realize it was the Titans__'__ acquaintance Bette Kane, better known as Flamebird, though Beast Boy had apparently referred to her as Ramona._

"…_What.__"__ Beast Boy said._

"_Hey, don__'__t judge me! Times were hard!__"_

"_As is the little time you HAVE LEFT!__"__ The doctor said, firing repeated blasts at Beast Boy._

"_NEVER! PREPARE TO SUFFER LIKE ALL OF WHEDON__'__S CREATIONS!__"__ Beast Boy retorted, leaping through the air at the doctor._

"_I TOLD YOU TO STOP THAT POST-MODERN CRAP!__"_

"Okay, seriously, how many fan fiction re-imaginings are we going to do?"

"_STOP THE POST-MODERN CRAP, SAYS I!__"_

"Oh thank god, he heard me! HELP ME!" Gauntlet said.

"_Why did you say it twice?__"_

"_BECAUSE SHUT UP, DEATH RAY TIME!__"_

"Nuts." Gauntlet said, before reality blurred into a new form.

_The Blacktrinian Empire__'__s grasp was one of nigh-absolute force. What it seized onto, it very rarely released. Sometimes, that even extended to singular soldiers._

_Sometimes, examples had to be made. Sometimes, worlds burned for the deeds of one person._

_But the Blacktrinian Empire was not omnipotent. It could not predict what the future would bring. It never realized that the day it made its latest example, it would make its last example._

_The large group of aliens varied greatly, but their red and black uniforms were all identical. As were the red rings they wore on their hands, and the liquid they blasted from their mouths, an ichor that burned and melted away whatever it touched. Having lost his hat, along with an eye, it was Scalpel__'__s trademark coat that gave him away__…__were it not for the fact that he was leading the charge and tearing apart every single Blacktrinian soldier he came across with red energy, destroying plasma from his mouth, or his own bare claws._

_There was nothing left of the ally Gauntlet knew. His lone eye merely reflected the last words Nigel Hastings had ever heard as his empire burned his home to ash._

"_**Nigicalnack Hastionfarlock. You have great rage in your heart. You belong in the Red Lantern Corps."**_

_Payback, as the Blacktrinian Empire was finally finding out, was hell._

"That's it. Not getting emotionally involved any more." Gauntlet said. "I'm just some guy in a cave with torches showing shadows on the wall or something, like in that old book, waddayacallit, _Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants_. I'm just going to ignore everything and wait for this to blow over."

"_And on that note, Legend Maker, please, please, please, PLEASE STOP USING THE LORD OF THE NIGHT IN EVERYTHING!__"__ Sophie said. __"__He worked as the main villain your first story, maybe, but he also works so much better as a threat of a return than an actual one! First you try and cram him into that Crisis Story, then he shows up as the force behind these BOOGEYMEN, or one of them, then he gets shoved into your Christmas story, then he gets a whole Boogeymen story to himself, and then he gets a New Year__'__s story, and then there was something that might have been a Valentine__'__s Day story before you disappeared into whatever void that ate you! What__'__s next? A St. Patrick__'__s Day story where he tries to steal a leprechaun__'__s pot of gold? An Arbor Day story where he destroys all trees who don__'__t fit his ideal of a New Tree? A Talk Like A Pirate Day__'__s story where he fights with Captain Jack Sparrow? This is assuming you ever come back, and by the way, if you__'__re gonna sit in that non-product-producing abyss, could you tell it to spit out George R. R. Martin?__"_

"WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?"

"_Don__'__t you see, Kory?__"__ The pale man said, his skin glistening like diamonds. __"__This is the skin of a killer!__"_

"…_But I haven__'__t heard of any unusual murders since I came here__…__how can you describe yourself as a murderer if__…__?__"__ Starfire said, looking very strange wearing slacks and a jean jacket._

"_Don__'__t listen to him Kory! He__'__ll drop you like a badly penned novel!__"__ The shirtless Native American man said._

"_NO! SHE__'__S MINE!__"__ The pale man said, blurring over and pouncing on the shirtless man._

"…_I__'__ve known you a day, why would you declare me your property__…__where did you come from__…__were vampires not supposed to burn up in sunlight__…"__ Starfire said, looking hopelessly confused._

"_YOU DON__'__T DESERVE HER!__"__ The now-wolf yelled, as he and the pale man brawled past Starfire in the background._

"_Why are you two assuming I have no say in such matters__…__is the fact you__'__re fighting over me not more disturbing then romantic__…"_

_Starfire fell on her face so suddenly Gauntlet would have sworn she was in an anime._

"_And ow, why did I fall down? I had perfect balance!__"__ Starfire said, looking up. __"__Oh! You two! Watch out for that tr-!__"_

_CRASH!_

"_And that ro-!__"_

_THUD!_

"_And that CLI-!__"_

"_…"_

"…_Why do they have such terrible peripheral vision?__"__ Starfire said._

"LA LA LA, I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Gauntlet said, covering his ears and closing his eyes. "67 BOTTLES OF BEER ON THE WALL! 67 BOTTLES OF BEER!"

"_Now, since I__'__ve already wasted enough time, I will sum up.__"__ Sophie said. __"__**Boogeymen: **__The gang__'__s all here but somehow I wish they weren__'__t. __**Boogeymen II**__: Oh clichés, how the author loves __**trying **__to subvert you and secret girl on girl. __**Boogeymen III**__:__…__Really? That__'__s the tone you__'__re going for? __**Boogeymen IV**__: At this point if the readers aren__'__t slitting their wrists, _they're_ reading something else. __**Boogeylord Gaiden-Lord**__: Why write something LORD new when Geoff LORD Johns can do it for you like LORD he__'__s done it be-LORD-fore. __**Boogeymen as a series**__: Cramming more auxiliary characters in then the plot knows how to kill. If there__'__s anything even REMOTELY horrifying about this series, it__'__s that. Then again, if I wanted to read a horrifying story, I__'__d stick with something REALLY horrifying, like Sonichu, thank you very much.__"_

"Oh thank god, I'm more of a Linkara guy anyway."

* * *

Through it all, Gauntlet tried to stop, to stabilize himself, to hit something. Every time he failed, carried through the visions like a leaf on a storm-gorged river. All the myriad ways life could go, with the grim possibility that he'd be watching them until he turned to dust.

"Okay, um…hm. Does reality have a wall here? I could do like Superboy-Prime, I could punch that…if I could figure out how to TURN OFF NOCLIP AND STOP FALLING THROUGH EVERYTHING!" Gauntlet said. "Ahem. I WONDER WHERE THE MISTS OF AVALON HAVE BROUGHT ME THIS TIME!…no? Nothing? I didn't think that would work, so…yo! Gauntlet! I mean you on my arm, not me! Do something! You're always doing weird things I don't understand!"

The Gauntlet made no reply, but Rob swore he felt it start vibrating.

"Yes, YES! You're always doing weird things that I don't understand, soooo…stop this! Save my friends! Activate your Euclidian Geometry Reinstater! GO GO GAUNTLET IMSICKOFTHIS!"

Tendrils of golden energy erupted from Robert's arm, spiraling off into the distance all around him.

"I will call this a decent start."

A second later, Gauntlet found the whole world exploding in light around him.

"…Progress?"

"_You could call it that.__"_

Gauntlet had no time to respond, as the force slammed into him.

* * *

The first thing reality informed Gauntlet of upon his return to it was that the ground beneath his cheek was cold.

"Ground. That's progress…ow." Gauntlet said, trying to push himself up. His whole body ached, and not just from the impact: Gauntlet likened it to having gotten a sunburn on the beach and only becoming fully aware of it out of the cool beach water. "So…mists of Avalon…brought me and where…"

"YOUR TRICKY TRICKS WILL NOT WORK YOU…TRICKY…DICK!"

Gauntlet managed to get his shield up just before Beast Boy's sword-lunge rammed the blade through his chest. The suddenness of the attack caused Gauntlet, having just gotten to his feet, to be hurled onto his back.

"NEITHER WILL CHANGING YOUR FACE! OR THE LOCATION! OR…everything else! Which you just did!" Beast Boy said, pressing the sword down. "WOW CHANGE IS GOOD FOR YOU, HUH?"

"Gar, you have three seconds to stop testing my patience, which feels like it's done the SAT, GED, and Myers-Briggs in one sitting, thanks for asking, or else I WILL knock you out."

"IT TOOK YOU TEN SECONDS TO SAY THAT!"

The crowbar slammed into Beast Boy's sword, knocking both the weapon and the wielder away.

"Well counted." Robin said. "Now if you don't…Gar?"

"IF I DON'T GAR? WHAT….what…" Beast Boy said, his eyes abruptly dulling.

"Friends!" Starfire said, dropping down from the sky. "Are you all right? Beast Boy seems…confused."

"You! You don't date vampires, right?" Gauntlet said, brandishing a yellow energy fist at Starfire.

"What? Gauntlet…what?" Starfire said, blinking. "I…there were these woods and then…"

"AND YOU! STOP HAVING SO MANY ALTERNATE UNIVERSE COUNTERPARTS AND THREATENING ME!" Gauntlet said, turning around and aiming the fist at Beast Boy.

"…Rob?" Beast Boy said.

"Whoa, Gauntlet. Hold on." Cyborg said, popping up at the young man's side and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Whatever…PLACE you were, it's gone now. Somehow. What's going on?"

"…Guys, why am I suddenly Caucasian again? And why do I have a sword?" Beast Boy said.

"Likely the same reason Robin smells extremely bad." Starfire said.

"Not by choice, Star." Robin said, narrowing his eyes, his face looking very strange without his mask. "Does anyone have any idea just what happened?"

"Well, you see, it sounds like you all changed. I just got to watch. And fall. And watch. And fall. I just wish I did drugs, because I'm sure it that would have made it more logical! Then I yelled at my gauntlet to bring us here, and it did….where IS here?" Gauntlet said, looking around.

The Titans, as it turned out, were standing on a platform of pure crystal, which was just murky enough that Gauntlet couldn't see directly through it. Said platform was one of a score or so, scattered around in the void that no longer seemed to be bothering Gauntlet or adversely affecting his companions. Gauntlet took a few steps to peer over the edge, revealing that the crystal piece was about fifteen feet tall and floating above more of the violating rainbow that made up the strange perdition Gauntlet had been yanked into.

"Why can't the bad guys exile us to the Pokonos, or Miami Beach, or somewhere pleasant?" Gauntlet said.

"Somehow, Gauntlet, that doesn't strike me as their MO." Robin said.

"Well, this seems completely implausible!" Came a certain female voice, and Gauntlet turned to watch Sophie pick her way over the crystal platform, still clothed in the dress pants, black turtleneck, and casual suit jacket she had been wearing. "Who's going to believe a plot twist like this?"

"…Sophie?" Cyborg said.

"I've a deadline to meet, you understand, and I'm not going to make it if I'm stood on something that was rejected by JRPG artists. I mean the whole place just seems completely…fake…and…." Sophie said, before trailing off, bringing one hand to her head. "I mean you'd think we'd…I…Rob?"

"Sophie?" Gauntlet echoed.

"What happened…I was making some eggs and…wait no I was reviewing…recording something to put on the Internet and…"

"I think someone's confused. Don't worry tubball, you're not alone." Terra said, popping up from the edge of the crystal, having dragged herself up onto its main body from a ledge. "Lord, I thought we could go a year without reality puking on us."

"I remember now, and in the case of some people, I wish I hadn't." Sophie said, looking rather unimpressed at the thinnest Titan.

"Hey look Sophie, a minute ago I was fighting a treacherous Baron of my country, yeah I have a country now, with my brother, oh yeah turns out I had a brother too, I just never mentioned him, who stole both our powers, turned himself into a frikkin' earth elemental, and began sucking all the people of my country into the ground and feeding on their blood and whatnot under a 'we all came from the earth and now you will return to the earth' mentality, so forgive me if I'm a touch SNAPPY."

"…well, at least you're dressed to go out." Sophie said, lifting a leg and tugging on her sandal. "Me, not so much."

"See, though, the Pokonos?" Gauntlet said, continuing on his train of thought. "We'd want to STAY there. It'd be the perfect trap and…wait…suddenly I get the feeling I'm forgetting…something…"

"LOOKOUT!" Cyborg yelled, throwing himself in front of Sophie.

The red energy blast took Gauntlet directly in his shield as he whirled, throwing him backwards through the air, sending him flying off the crystal platform. Even before the Titans could react, another blast exploded at Robin's feet and sent him flying off the platform in another direction.

"FOR THE LOVE OF SHORTPACKED!" Gauntlet yelled, firing off a yellow grapple to grab onto the crystal platform and prevent the whole mess from starting over again, even as Starfire initiated flight and dove to catch Robin. Beast Boy popped up near Cyborg as he recovered and, rather then turning into an animal, waved his sword at what had attacked: the red-suited form of Scalpel, his ring and eye shining with scarlet rage.

"What the…what happened?" Cyborg said. Terra grimaced and tried to reach out with her power, only to get the cold, numb sensation she only, and very rarely, got when an area had no type of rock or earth to command at all.

"IF THAT'S NIGEL, THEN A SUMMER CROSSOVER HAD STRUCK AGAIN!" Gauntlet yelled up. "KNOCK HIM OUT OR CALM HIM DOWN, I DON'T CARE WHICH!"

"Uh…um…Hey, Nigel…back off man! This thing can…poke you…or something…!" Beast Boy said. Apparently, the fire ability the sword had demonstrated before either no longer worked or Beast Boy had forgotten exactly how to make it work.

"I doubt that will be all that effective." Cyborg, aiming his cannon at Scalpel's crouching form. The Blacktrinian's lone eye burned as it looked at the Titans, even as sizzling vitriol dripped from the alien's mouth.

"…Nigel?" Sophie said.

"Watch it Soph. That's a Red Lantern. They're crazy. Crazier then crazy." Cyborg said.

"But…we…I…" Sophie said. "…Nigel?"

The Blacktrinian's head swiveled around to focus on Sophie.

"_Watch it Soph_…those things vomit plasma that can burn through anything…" Cyborg said, his whole arm lighting up as he fed more power to his cannon.

"But…that's not Nigel…we were just in alternate lives, but my memories…they came back…surely…" Sophie said, reaching out. "Nigel! Wake up! Come back!"

The snarling hiss that the Blacktrinian emitted sounded like nothing the Nigel she knew could emit. Fortunately, it was also the last sound the Red Lantern before it fell to one knee, shaking its head.

"Nigel?" Sophie said, stepping around Cyborg.

"Careful Soph."

"I am, don't worry. Nigel? It's me. Can you hear me?"

A low mutter of what Sophie recognized as Blacktrinian escaped Scalpel's lips, even as more poison dripped from his mouth.

"Nigel…it's okay. I know it's confusing. Just…listen to my voice…and come in…come in…" Sophie said, slowly approaching the alien.

"…Sophie?" Scalpel said, raising his head. "What…what's going on?"

"It's okay, it's okay." Sophie said, approaching her alien love. "We're…somewhere, I have no idea. I only just woke up myself, but the others are here…Are you…Are you going to be okay?"

"…hurts…it hurts…" Scalpel said, looking down at himself. "What…what happened to me…?"

"Oh, just your classic it went terribly alternate life. I think that's point 14 on something every long-running superhero experiences." Gauntlet said, having climbed back up. "Hey Sophie, nice work making the cliché work for you."

The pair glared dully at Gauntlet.

"What? The fourth wall is GONE. I was atop it, then everything broke into a kerbillion pieces." Gauntlet said, even as Starfire returned, holding Robin in her arms.

"Scalpel, don't try and take that ring off." Cyborg said, approaching the alien now that he was sure that he wouldn't turn on him. "It's replaced your heart and your blood. You take it off, it will kill you."

"That explains why it hurts."

"How do we fix it?" Sophie asked.

"If we were anywhere near the real world, we'd have to find a Blue Lantern. But I have a pretty good idea of what we can do here." Robin said, having returned himself. "We figure out what caused this and stop them."

"Preferably someplace where there are rocks." Terra said.

"Frack'n A." Beast Boy said, swinging his sword up.

"Watch it Gar, you'll put someone's eye out with that thing." Cyborg said.

"Thank you Noel, for…wait." Beast Boy said. The troubles had kept him, and any of the other Titans, from realizing something important. "Where's Savior…and where's Raven?"

"…wait a minute, I didn't see any alternate worlds with them…" Gauntlet said.

"What does that mean?" Starfire said.

"We're unique among the 52 Earths?" Gauntlet said.

"Then how do you explain all that stuff you just saw, Robert?" Robin said, peering around at the crystal platforms and really missing his grapple.

"HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA! Explanations. That's adorable."

"You might want it more in a second, Gauntlet." Cyborg said.

"Why?"

"Because if my scans are accurate, I think I see Rip Hunter encased in the crystal platform ahead of us."  
"Who?"

"You might remember his current partner better, Gauntlet." Cyborg said. "After all, you and he tore up the stage at that party four months ago."

"Cy, I can barely REMEMBER that party four months ago."

"It's Booster Gold, Rob." Cyborg said. "He and Hunter are one of the forces that looks after the timeline. And now they're both encased in crystal in front of us."

"…This is going to be one of those things where my concept of reality is undermined until we beat the bad guys, isn't it?"

"What else did you expect on Halloween?" Terra said.

"Come on guys. Let's get up there and try and get Booster and Hunter out." Robin said. "Uh, Gauntlet…you're probably going to have to carry most of us."

"Yes, yes, I'm on it." Gauntlet said, sending out yellow lines to pick up the Titan members without overt travel capabilities. "Okay, so…you people aren't paying attention are you? I'm just a taxi, aren't I?"

"Worse, you're not getting paid." Beast Boy said.

It didn't take long for the Titans to get up onto the larger platform of crystal. It took even less time for them to determine that they wouldn't be able to get through the material to rescue the time-patrollers trapped inside.

"What IS this stuff?" Beast Boy said, poking it with his sword.

"I can't affect it." Terra said, having gestured repeatedly at the ground.

"I keep getting errors trying to actually determine its substance." Cyborg said.

"This is where Raven would offer a mystical option, but she's not here." Gauntlet said. "So I'd like to reiterate what I was going to say earlier. SO, Freddy, Lord, or Slade?"

"None of them!" A cheerful voice said.

"Man, I'm just not allowed to be right about…anything…ever…" Gauntlet said before he trailed off. None of the Titans had given that reply. Worse, the voice had come from above them.

The last fact arrived in Gauntlet's mind a moment later: he recognized the voice. It was the same one that had spoken to him before he'd been pulled into that dimension. And had told him that what he had done earlier when he'd brought all the Titans here could be called 'progress'. Lacking anything else to say, he looked up.

Robin did as well, certain that the figure hadn't been there a moment ago: while he lacked eyes in the back of his head, his situational awareness was second to none. Wherever it, or she, had come from, she was now floating down a short distance away, two human sized crystals based off the same material. She wore a very strange costume, in terms of her outfit's material rather then it's simple full body design of half-bodysuit, half dress, complete with a cloak. Said material seemed to be some sort of golden dust, parts of which drifted off her body, the substance in constant flux, rising and settling on her form. The cloak hid her face, but Gauntlet could tell from the way she floated, both hands out, palms facing the group, that she apparently didn't deem them any sort of threat.

It took Gauntlet another few seconds to realize the girl hadn't just brought the twin crystals with her for show. Inside were the two missing Titans, Savior and Raven encased in the shards, their bodies positioned in relaxing stances that indicated that they'd been grabbed without ever realizing what had happened.

"…the HELL." Sophie said, reaching for a gun that wasn't there.

"Somehow…I doubt it's that simple." Scalpel said.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" The girl said, waving. The Titans responded by drawing back slightly and taking on defensive positions.

"…Oh GREAT. Larry's sister decided to come visit." Gauntlet said.

"…Gauntlet, that's not a fifth-dimensional creature." Cyborg said, his tone tense. "Her body's reading as human."

"Oh goodie." Gauntlet said. "Cyborg, what does the scouter say about her power level?"

"…my computer can't read it."

"Your computer can't read ANYTHING important!"

"Gauntlet…I don't mean it can't scan her. My computer's telling me if I even begin to TRY and calculate it…it will overload." Cyborg said.

"That's not exactly a convincing counterargument."

"….So, typical third Wednesday for us?" Terra said.

"Not now, guys." Robin said, feeling more naked then ever. "You. Who are you?"

"I'm FRACTURE!" The girl said.

"…Do we know you?" Robin said.

"No. You never did. But you do now." Fracture said, pulling back her hood.

There was…something about her face. Gauntlet couldn't figure out just what. Her hair was long, very long, and an unnatural shade of red, done up in two long trails that reminded Gauntlet of Sailor Moon. She was quite attractive, which just ground on Gauntlet's mind in regards to the nagging sensation that he'd seen her somewhere before.

"Okay. Definitely not Freddy."

"Nope! I'm Isolde Collins! Noel's big sister!" Fracture said.

The silence that fell over the Titans was palpable.

"…what." Cyborg said.

"…So. From an alternate universe I presume?" Gauntlet said.

"Hmmm, maybe. I'd figure it out, but I need to get to work on tormenting and destroying all of you, before I unravel the fabric of the universe and reduce it to nothing." Fracture said, before smirking wickedly. "I'd ask if this was a bad time…"

The ground beneath the Titans began to rumble.

"But I'm afraid that ALL time is bad now." Fracture said.

"…Wheeeeee." Gauntlet said. "Have I mentioned recently how much I love the villain Sues?"


	3. Crimson Echoes

Part 3: Crimson Echoes

"Noel doesn't have a sister." Robin said.

The ground stopped shaking as suddenly as it began.

"Really? Then what am I? Chopped liver?" Fracture said, floating around the crystals she had imprisoned Raven and her so-called brother in.

"Maybe. Whatever you are, you're not related to Noel." Robin said. "There are no records or information that Maxwell Collins had any other children with his wife, and believe me, I'm very good at turning up records."

"Well, technically I'm his HALF-sister, if you want to be specific." Fracture said.

"It doesn't matter. With all the issues Noel has with his father…we'd have known you exist."

"He SHOULD know. He met me once." Fracture said, turning and tracing her hand on the crystal. "See…my birth was an odd thing. Father was told I was stillborn. The truth was more complicated. I was…born special. So special that this group, I guess you could call them by the traditional name of a cult…they took me. And I was _so _special that what I could do, even then, killed them all several miles from the hospital. The police found a rusted-out hulk of a van in the middle of a road, filled with dust and my infant self. And when they took me to the nearest hospital…well, I was so _special _that within the hour a top-secret government agency picked me up and locked me in the deepest hole they could find as they tried to find a way to kill me. I only got out once. Before they grabbed me up again. I wandered across the country with my special nature, and was drawn to the only other thing like me in the world. My little brother, Noel. He was seven."

"Wow, you think she's special somehow?" Gauntlet said.

"That's the rumor." Cyborg replied.

"Joke all you want, Candide. It may provide you with some comfort in all the timelines where you die alone." Fracture said, still looking at Noel. "I know what it's like to be alone. I didn't want to be alone…but Noel wasn't anywhere near ready or prepared to accept or understand me. I scared him…likely so badly that he blocked it out. Buried the experience in his subconscious. And when Government Black Agency Seventeen caught up with me and used my distraction to drug me up and drag me away again, Noel went on with his life. Never overtly recalling my existence. Until a series of events empowered him and brought him into your company…where he met a girl. A girl who, by chance…stirred an old, malformed recollection of his childhood."

Gauntlet was about to say something when it clicked in. He suddenly realized why Fracture looked familiar. The different body type, hair, and costume concealed it somewhat…but she bore a strong resemblance to Raven.

"…wait a minute…" Terra said. "Are you saying Noel…fell for Raven because…oh YUCK. JUST…OH YUCK."

"While I somewhat share my comrade's disgust, my stronger feeling is more of a sense that such a connection doesn't _make _sense." Starfire said.

"Ah, alien…still don't understand all the ins and outs of this race of ours. Of course it makes sense. You know how they met. You know how my brother was struck by Raven. Have you ever wondered why? It was because while he couldn't consciously remember me, he had never truly forgotten me. Left with an inexplicable feeling, not understanding the source…Noel decided it must have been something else. So he went in that direction, and you have seen the fruit it bore. Unusual, yes…but isn't everything in your lives?"

"Yes, so, I'm wondering why we're still listening to this weirdness? Titans Go and all?" Gauntlet said.

"Oh come on, don't you want to know why this is happening?"

"I prefer to find out from Oracle after they finish the interrogation. This is going weird places, and you SCREAM unreliable narrator."

"Heh. Would you like to see what you can still rely on?" Fracture said.

Gauntlet had a hard time explaining what happened next.

First, he opened his mouth…and suddenly felt his jaw speed up and words spill out of it in a super-quick, incomprehensible mess. The same thing happened to several other Titans, before they started moving/running forward. Gauntlet felt his limbs move without his consent, his body refusing to answer to him any more…

Before he suddenly reversed his movement and began going backwards. That happened for a second and a half before he began going forward again. Then backwards. Then forwards. Any attempt Gauntlet made to stop or speak received no answer from his body. All that remained his was his mind.

"Your lives, your actions, your existences are mine." Fracture said. "You see, that government group never DID figure out a way to get around my powers to kill me. Not before I really, truly woke up to their full width and breadth. Believe me, I wish they'd killed me. Because forcing my brain to try and comprehend the infinite scope of existence…well, it might have worked in Hitchhiker's as a punishment, but it's NOT SO GOOD WHEN YOU CAN CONTROL, MANIPULATE, AND TEAR APART EVERYTHING YOU'VE BEEN FORCED TO SEE."

With a snap of her fingers, the Titans collapsed, finally released from their puppeteer state.

"It's a funny thing. It's not so much that there's so much bad stuff in existence…as it is that you realize that you can never really experience life after you've experienced the totality of living. There's no more point. And since everything did this, well…everything has to go. And since you are so near and dear to little brother's heart…well, you get the special treatment." Fracture said. "So that's the story, Titans. My story. It's also how the world ends. With as many whimpers and bangs as I can think up before I get bored."

"…heh." Robin said, as he began pushing himself up. "Ho boy…"

Fracture arched an eyebrow. Gauntlet gathered from the motion that while Fracture theoretically know absolutely anything they could do, she didn't have it all laid out in front of her like a filing system. That fact didn't comfort him much.

"…You know…I was thinking…something so big and dangerous…it would be…you know…poignant in some sense?"

"Pardon?"

"Well, it's just…all this…all THAT…and yet…the thing that really comes to my mind is…what is this nonsense?"

"NONSENSE?"

"Well yeah. Some unknown woman who really existed with the power to destroy the universe by sneezing popping out of nowhere just happening to be related to us so she throws us through another blender of mixed possibilities…really, even with all we experience…what the hell. You expect me to buy this?" Robin said.

"Hmmmm, maybe not. But then again, you seem to have gone insane with fear."

"Yeah, maybe. Or maybe I just decided this isn't worth providing any emotion for." Robin said. "So…Titans, go."

"Just because…" Fracture said.

Gauntlet fired off a yellow energy fist at her on sheer instinct.

He barely felt the experience of Fracture slapping the blow aside before he was suddenly back in a classroom, learning 4th Grade Social Studies. A few seconds later, he was crouched in the front room of a bordello, pondering the corpse of a young woman murdered with a pickaxe. After a few seconds of that, he was floating in the vacuum of space without a suit, experiencing the pleasant experience of dying that provided. After two seconds of that, Gauntlet found himself back on the crystal platform, falling to one knee as he tried to process it all.

"NO! NO NO NO!" Fracture yelled, stamping her foot like a child. "I want some entertainment! I want some of the vocal pizzaz you come up with! I want to be surprised! SURPRISE ME DAMN IT!"

"…Somehow, strange echo, I do not think that is our duty or within our capabilities." Starfire said.

"Besides, from all that you've told me, and what we've gone through…I've got a pretty strong feeling that whatever you are now, you didn't start that way." Cyborg said. "Because, really, if you're going to kick time and space in the teeth with such reckless insanity…well, who's to say that your own existence and reasons for your actions will stay any more stable then all this?"

"…Hah. Well, even if you're going to be boring, at least some of you have enough brains to pull at a thread or two!" Fracture said, strange energies erupting from her body. "You're right! This is who I am now, but to start? WHO KNOWS! For someone like me, it's all about multiple choice! So let's fire up the dice and SEE WHAT TURNS UP!"

"You know, next year, I'm hoping we can just hand out candy to some kids and have the worst thing that happens to us involve toilet paper." Terra said.

"Frack'n A." Beast Boy replied, and the Titans charged forward again.

Leaving Gauntlet behind, which allowed him to see the energy flash over the Titans, turning their advance into a crawl akin to a movie put on slow motion. The Titan winced inwardly before getting back up, watching as Fracture thrust out her hands to fire more of the violating-rainbow energy into Savior and Raven's crystals.

In a snap decision, Gauntlet dashed to the side and threw himself forward, hoping that whatever time-based power Fracture was using had been activated in a cone-pattern rather then a radius. His gamble paid off, as he leapt in from the side, unaffected, yellow energy lines seizing out and grabbing Savior and Raven's crystal prisons as he flew past.

They went with him with surprisingly little resistance, Gauntlet rolling as he landed and yanking the crystals to either side of him. He spun around to face Fracture…who was watching him, one hand on her cheek…and a shifting mass of energy floating off in front of her.

"Not a bad plan, Robby-Bobby. But you were so focused on the bathwater you missed the baby." Fracture said. "Literally."  
The energy mass erupted in blinding light, before darkness bloomed from within it and solidified into a final, definite shape. A shape that wore a familiar costume.

Said costume being Raven's, minus her old one-piece bathing suit body. The man's suit completely covered him, its color a dullish black-green mix. Red energy sparked from the man's blank white eyes, the light illuminating the pale, flat face beneath the raven-beak cloak. He held his fists tightly clenched at his sides as he touched down on the ground.

"The blood of heroes is a myth." Fracture said, floating further up. "Time for a cold reality."

"…well, balls." Gauntlet said. He glanced at the two crystals holding his friends, and then decided he probably wouldn't have any more luck getting them open and attacked the

'newcomer.'

"…ah…Titans. Again." The boy said, even as Gauntlet closed in. "I am Carrion. I wonder…will your screams be…"

Gauntlet's energy fist stopped several feet away from Carrion as the 'bad blood' snapped out his hand. Ice erupted over the energies, and before Gauntlet could react it entombed him with a yell.

All the while, the Titans had watched, still stuck in their slowed-down state. The second Gauntlet was fully consumed by the ice, it finally ended, causing most of them to stumble and fall.

"…Yes. Yes they will." Carrion said, grinning with a mouth full of sharpened fangs. "Delicious."


	4. The Glare Of Midnight

Chapter 4: The Glare of Midnight

"All right Sophie…" Cyborg said, a segment of his hip sliding open as he extracted a firearm from within. The Titans had paused a few seconds to resume their attack, and in well-trained style, Cyborg had taken the moment to retrieve the gun. "Maybe you didn't get to bring your usual gear, but I've learned to pack spares."

"You're so sweet sometimes, Cy." Sophie said, checking the clip and the slide.

"Hey, no sense changing things even if we're doomed." Cyborg said, and snapped up his cannon arm. The sonic blast blew Carrion backwards, and that was about all it did as the created child held his ground otherwise, the blast dragging him back about ten feet before he stopped, shoving his hands into the constant stream.

"Force through vibration." Carrion said, before the beam fragmented and sputtered out. "It all dies beneath the cold."

Starfire's spray of blasts cut off the sorcerer before he could say anything else, Carrion leaping into the air and right into the interception Starfire had set up. Starfire tried to drive the child into the ground, only for ice to flash-form over her and sent her plummeting downward. The alien did not shatter with the ice, but the impact stunned her long enough for Carrion to fly down and kick her across the crystal platform. Cyborg used the opening and blasted Carrion upside the head, running in as he did so to close the distance and try and gain an advantage.

"Nigel." Robin said, stopping the alien as he moved to follow. "I know this is a lot to ask, but with these altered powers of yours, you probably have the best chance. What did you plan to do?"

"I…"

"Hold that thought. Sophie! You only have one clip of ammo so make it count!"

"Right!" Sophie said, aiming with her gun as Cyborg brawled with Carrion. "Uh…anyone else have any spare weapons?"

"Sorry Sophie. Fresh out." Terra said, flitting past Sophie's side. The mortician ignored Terra (who actually hadn't been insulting her); Carrion had counter-attacked with a spray of ice blades, the razor-sharp weapons driving Cyborg to retreat. Sophie zeroed in on her target and fired, but her shots slowed to a crawl in front of Carrion, having entered some sort of chilling field he'd manifested that drained their kinetic energy.

"…Damn it, I had hoped I wouldn't have to get clo-"

The spray of icicles flew through the cloud of bats Sophie had morphed into, one of them striking her gun and sending it skittering off.

"It matters little." Carrion said.

Robin's attacking leap lacked a certain style when done in moldy clothes and with a crowbar, but his skill hadn't lessened one bit. Carrion's sideways dodge didn't take him far enough out of range, Robin spinning as soon as he landed and catching the echo across the shoulder. Carrion thrust out an arm, his blast of ice missing by an inch even as Robin bashed Carrion in the head.

The ice, unfortunately, was not on a one-way trip, and flew back to catch Robin _in _the back. Robin's attempt to deflect the impact failed as the ice molded to his spine and slammed him down onto the ground, driving the air from his lungs even as the ice tried to grind him into the crystal.

Starfire's Starbolt took Carrion directly in the face. Once again, the sorcerer staggered back, his cloak and features briefly on fire before said flames were extinguished. As a result, the slashing sword only managed to cut his upper shoulder instead of his chest, Carrion surging away from Beast Boy's attempted offense, another wicked grin splitting his features.

"You should stick with your specialties, pathetic as they are."

The hand grabbed onto Carrion's shoulder from behind.

"Why limit ourselves?" Terra said, going immediately into the ju-jitsu throw and attempting to hurl Carrion to the ground.

With a snort, Carrion tossed the girl off, Terra taking a painful tumble onto the ground instead. The sorcerer did not get to dispense further mockery, though, as Starfire made her return and blasted him directly in the chest with eye beams.

"A little more spirit at this age." Carrion said, crimson energy crackling off his body. The cold pulse that erupted off of him to consume the Titans made Beast Boy and Terra feel like they'd been dipped in liquid nitrogen, all their defiance vanishing on their wind as their bodies dropped to the ground. Starfire shrugged it off better, but the attack still numbed her form and slowed her reaction, giving Carrion plenty of time to manifest a battering ram of ice and smash it into her. The alien flew into the distance…

Carrion ducked away from the sonic cannon blast from behind him, whirling around and dropping another mass of ice down on Cyborg's body. Spinning to face the direction he'd been in before, Carrion intercepted the crowbar with his hand and lanced out with an upwards swing with the other one, the clawed fingers taking Robin in the chest and knocking him upwards. Another ice platform surged up from Carrion's feet half a second later, slamming into Robin's chest and knocking him away with a pained gasp. Left with the crowbar, Carrion emitted a dark chuckle, frost racing across its structure and covering it in dull-white markings before the sorcerer dropped it. It shattered at his feet.

"And that leaves…"

Red light erupted across the ground towards Carrion, manifesting beneath him and exploding with enough concussive force to rattle Robin's eardrums. Carrion was again knocked upward from the attack, the scarlet illumination surging up after him, forming into a pair of familiar clawed hands. The talons seized him, Scalpel finally making his move as per Robin's orders.

Carrion broke free of the hands just in time for the Blacktrinian to grab him with his own, his mouth opening and fiery plasma spewing out, consuming both the Red Lantern and the sorcerer in a mass of red and black smoke. Silence settled over the battlefield.

Beast Boy coughed as he tried to get up, and immediately regretted it as it made his chest feel like it was being subjected to multiple red-hot brands. He glanced over at Terra, who didn't seem to be much better off. Well, it could have been worse. They could have both shattered like the T-1000...

Scalpel flew out of the cloud, crashing violently into the ground. Beast Boy's head snapped towards the alien, and then towards the cloud as Carrion re-appeared, his outfit burned and one hand clutching a wound on his shoulder and torso.

"Not…bad…alien. Even with the fact I was expecting it." Carrion said. "But I'm afraid…stuck between who you are and what you'd become…your vitriol lacks the potency that would have been needed."

"Give me a moment." Scalpel said, pushing himself up. Carrion smirked with one corner of his mouth, glancing around as other Titans rose to aid Scalpel.

"I'm afraid you won't have it." Carrion said, as the red energies around his pitiless eyes surged to black. "You've tasted the chill hand of death…"

Starfire and Cyborg's combined attack missed, Carrion leaping into the air and dodging a follow-up blast from Scalpel's ring. Robin dashed in as the projectiles flew, bending his knees to leap…

"NOW SEE IT'S FACE." Carrion said. The midnight ire arced from his eyes, zapping out and striking Robin in the head.

_**No sense of direction, all lost in the terrible pain, the acid tearing into all of Robin**__**'**__**s skin as he thrashed in the industrial vat, his eyes going soft, his lungs exploding in fire as the toxin surged down into him**__**…**_

Robin hit the ground, his body thrashing in agony as he lived through the nightmare, the same one that may have once created a king among madmen and would likely just be the death of him.

"ROBINNNNN!" Starfire shrieked, instinctively drawing up.

The energies struck her before she could move.

_**The star gave her power, but it showed no mercy to those who were caught in its grip, the gravity drawing Starfire in, an inescapable pull, her cells shrieking as their ability to absorb and negate the solar rays was exceeded and every bit of water in the alien**__**'**__**s body boiled**__**…**_

"WHAT THE-GAHHHHH!" Cyborg yelled as the energy jumped to him, and within his mind Victor Stone felt his dream of being human again turned into a nightmare. Somehow his machine parts were being converted to organic material, with no care or precision to the process, his whole body becoming a wretched, agonizing tangle of misplaced bone and muscle, constant new nerves being generated to add to the pain. Beast Boy, as the power arched to him, experienced something similar, his mass-summoning and altering powers sent out of control, his body stuck in a too-rapid series of transformations that racked and ravaged him. Terra and Scalpel were last, and each were consumed by the vision of drowning; Terra swallowed by the earth she commanded and feeling it slowly squeeze the life out of her, and Scalpel chained to a weight and tossed into the depths of icy water, his lungs screaming for air that would never come.

"Heroes. Feh." Carrion said, landing back on the ground. "Death comes for everything, but for you…it always comes on its cruelest wings. Your inevitable destiny. Ugly. Gruesome. The most exquisite tenderness…"

The ice block shattered, Gauntlet not bothering to do anything save lunge forward and scream. His spiked energy fist slammed into Carrion, the blades tearing into his body and cloak…even as the sorcerer turned his eyes on him, and the dark power surged out and struck Gauntlet in the head.

_**Seized up, unsharpened saws taken to his body, the dull blades still tearing through flesh and muscle, cutting at his knees, his ribs, his jaw**__**…**_

"The real last laugh." Carrion said,

The sword, in the end, just sliced through Carrion's cloak, Sophie's backstab avoided at the last crucial moment. Carrion's spin knocked the weapon from her hand, even as his clutching fingers manifested ice around Sophie's feet.

"Eeep!" Was all Sophie managed to get out.

"And finally the mother. Bringing life does not excuse death." Carrion said, holding his hand up as his eyes went black one last time. The Titan's eyes went wide…

_**So many bodies. Each one a story. An unpleasant job, to be sure. But nothing excused the dead from respect, and one should always deal with those who have passed with care**__**…**_

"What?" Carrion said, as the sight refracted back and filled his mind as well. It was death, like all the others, but _THIS _vision of death…

"What did you do?" Carrion demanded, the mindscape flitting down beneath Sophie's primary awareness. It took her a second to realize.

"…Oh. That. My day job." Sophie said.

"DO YOU THINK…?" Carrion snarled, scarlet energies tearing from his blank eyes…

The bat flew to Sophie's hand, merging with the appendage and bringing the gun between her fingers as she snapped her arm up.

"Plenty." Sophie said, and put the bullet right through Carrion's fanged maw. Despite their blankness, the sorcerer's eyes could still show confusion.

Sophie's second bullet eliminated the ability for the echo to show any expression. With most of his head flying out the back of it, the sorcerer reared backwards, his hands clawing for a moment, before he collapsed, dead before he hit the ground.

Sophie grimaced, lowering the gun. That had been far from pleasant, but considering what her teammates had clearly been experiencing, she had a feeling she'd gotten off easy.

"I was, I am, an undertaker and a mortician. I worked with the dead, and they've shown me some horrible sights, but at the end of the day I don't care how I die. I'll be a bit more pre-occupied with dying and moving on." Sophie said, popping the clip of ammo to see how many shots she had left (which was five). "Fearing death distracts you from life, and after you die, your life is what makes you, as all that's left is your body. Savior knows this, as does Rae."

With a subtle click, Sophie snapped the ammo back in.

"If you were truly theirs, you'd have known it too."

* * *

Gauntlet found the cold crystal pressing on his cheek again as sense returned to him, the terrible experience he'd just been subjected to fading from his mind like a bad dream.

"Okay…I think this is a first…my patience is now so out, it replenished itself…or something, grrhh!" Gauntlet said, pushing his way up. "Guys? Hey guys, you all right?"

"I feel like boiled, danced-on crap, and me and my girlfriend are still useless in this fight, but besides that, just peachy keen." Beast Boy said.

"Don't worry Gar. I'll compensate." Cyborg said. Robin, having gotten up himself, took a moment to look around at his team before turning his eyes skyward.

Fracture was there, having recalled Raven and Savior's crystal prisons, the young woman clapping her hands like the Titans were on stage taking a bow.

"Fantastic…!" Fracture said. "Now THIS is something worth causing!"

"I think we may want to try and engage her before she calls up some other worst-case scenario." Scalpel said.

"I agree. I would rather not see what the worst results of a Blacktrinian and Tamarean hybrid would be." Starfire said, pulling off her mostly ruined jean jacket and tossing it aside.

"Ohhh, now you wanna fight me! Hmmmm, should I get my hands dirty or no, decisions, decisions…"

Cyborg's shoulders opened up, the micro-missiles erupting from within and flying towards the supposed lost sibling. With a faint blink of light, Fracture disappeared, the crystals vanishing with her.

"Titans, watch…" Robin said before Fracture re-appeared, lower to the ground and minus the crystals.

"Okay, let's do this! Show me what you got! Well, I already know, but hey, beggars, choosers, horseshoes and hand grenades!" Fracture said, her cloak disintegrating into a whirling cloud of gold dust.

"Cyborg, what the hell is she wearing? The sands from an hourglass? Please tell me it's something that gives me full justification in NOT HOLDING BACK." Gauntlet said.

"Well…it's not sand. It's…" Cyborg said, cocking his head at his scan results. "…Pollen?"

"Sporopollenin! The outer shell of pollen! Nothing resists the inevitability of entropy better!" Fracture said.

"So she literally has flower power. Why not?" Gauntlet said. Robin glanced back at the whole team, cracking his knuckles as he did so.

"All right Titans. Let's…"

Gauntlet barely registered Fracture's body as she lanced forward, her blurring form tearing through the Titans and sending them all flying like rag dolls. No sooner did they enter the air then Fracture blinked out of sight, re-appearing next to Cyborg and knocking him across the crystal platform with a punch…

Even as she kicked Robin. And head butted Terra. And backhanded Gauntlet. And palm-struck Scalpel. And axe-kicked Sophie. And kneed Starfire. In one brief moment, Fracture was literally everywhere at once, and then she was back in the center of where the Titans had been, the teenagers crashing to the ground around her.

"What's that metronome I hear, perhaps the end is drawing near, you never hear the shot that takes you down…" Fracture hummed, energies crackling on her body, even as her twin hair extensions flared out and rotated around behind her back, like the arms of a clock. "Out of time. So say goodbye. What is yours. Now is mine. And I dream broken dreams. I make them come true…I make them for you."

"…You know…" Gauntlet said, as he lay on the ground. "I think razor blades in fruit would be preferable to this."


	5. Forever Zero

Chapter 5: Forever Zero

Robin's whole life (so to speak, he tended to consider 'Tim Drake' somewhat separate from it all) had been a lesson in preparation. Have every possible situation you could think considered and have counter-measures in place for them, and when you were done doing that, brainstorm with other people to see what you missed. The more you thought of, and took consideration of, the safer you were.

Yet even that fact could not account for every single feasible, or rather UN-feasible thing a superhero could encounter. When faced with something like that, Robin had been taught his other great lesson. If you couldn't think in advance, think on your feet. Use everything you were, and everything you'd learned, to survive that moment. It was a lifelong lesson, one Robin was still learning, but he'd devoted himself to it, and tried to pass it onto his friends.

Watching Robin throw attack after attack at Fracture, only for her to use teleportation and kinetic negation to turn it all away, it was that fact that burned on the forefront of Gauntlet's mind. He and the Titans had fought enemies that had outclassed them before, in strength, experience, and desire, but there was something different about this.

It was reflected in Robin's ineffective attacks. How Cyborg's own years of learning and mastering his own condition were rendered moot, one after the other, with seemingly no effort. Starfire's own years of war, dismissed. Beast Boy and Terra, essentially stuck without powers, trying anyway and doing as well as the rest of them. Scalpel's own abilities, distorted by Fracture's machinations, the alien forced to learn them on the spot, even as Sophie tried to make use of her severely limited resources. And of course, Gauntlet's own namesake and all it could do, and all he'd learned to do with it…

It was nothing. All nothing. Their enemy had literally seen every crack and speck of existence, and in her very nature she possessed a quintessence that exceeded anything the Titans could have done or learned. This wasn't a fight, it was a puppet show. The fact that Fracture had no history (and possibly never could, by her time-scarred nature) and yet had more power and less reason to destroy the Titans then anyone Gauntlet could think of was just the icing on the excrement cake.

In truth, Gauntlet didn't bother thinking about how overmatched the Titans were and how hopeless the situation was. He was just too pissed off.

"Why can't you people with powers ever just DEAL WITH IT?" Gauntlet said, swinging an energy baseball bat at Fracture. The girl blurred away, leaping into the air as she did so.

"I AM!" Fracture replied, and thrust out her hand. Gauntlet dodged out of the way as the energy beam struck the crystal floor behind him and passed through it like it wasn't there.

"Who needs therapy when you have ENTROPY?" Fracture said, and spun around firing more blasts, the Titans frantically doing their best to not even get near them. Scalpel was the only one to attack, flying in and blasting Fracture with an intense beam of radiation from his ring. Said beam flickered away when it came near Fracture, and the girl repaid the attack by zapping over and flooring the Blacktrinian in a blur of punches, pure shonen-anime style.

"…Okay then…time to yank something out of my ass, and if anyone is good at yanking ass, it's…wait. Wait?" Gauntlet said. "Okay. I am the one with the mystery artifact of whoknowshowmuch power. It let me breathe in bad space-I wonder if that extends to normal space-and pulled all my friends out of their crisis on earths that are either finite or infinite, I really don't care. Time to go back to the well! I think I can! I think I can!" Gauntlet said, running in towards Fracture. "GAUNTLET FIXEVERYTHING POWER, ACTIVATE!"

Fracture turned into Gauntlet's punch, and the young man was almost CERTAIN he saw lines of white light shoot up his arm and into the energy.

Fracture stopped it with one hand…in a sense. Gauntlet felt the blow's negation, but Fracture went backwards as if she'd been affected anyway. Gauntlet's moment of elation was brief, as the time-weaver promptly turned the backwards motion into a leap. Blasts from Cyborg, Starfire, Scalpel, and Sophie all failed to hit as she warped around several times before stopping, her hair still in constant rotation around her head.

"All right then…!" Fracture said, clapping her hands, rainbow sparks erupting from her body. "Let's REALLY get going!"

"…Okay, did something happen?" Gauntlet said. "I wish I had a user's manual or a degree in quantum mechanics. Either one would…"

Fracture thrust up her hands, and a massive eruption of light blazed from her form. Gauntlet stopped talking and threw up a shield, before the world dissolved…

* * *

…Back to normal. The crystal platform and the violating rainbow void around Gauntlet had become a normal blue sky and the top of a building. The top, Gauntlet realized, of Titans Tower.

"…Well, maybe sometime…" Gauntlet said, as he called down his shield…

Only to realize he felt odd. Very very odd. The source of the strange feeling became immediately apparent when he looked at himself, and at the new pair of breasts beneath his shirt.

"OH GOD WHY?" Gauntlet yelled.

"Well, that's what happens when you twist and turn through the passages of time." The new, male voice said. Gauntlet looked up to see what appeared to be an mildly overweight nerd, his thin brown hair standing on end and his eyes blazing with power, though the fact he was wearing dirty jeans and a shirt with Sasuke from _Naruto_ on it somewhat wrecked the image.

"The hell?"

"Seems like my origin got jumbled around again! Much like yours!" The nerd said, and Gauntlet realized it was Fracture. "Now I remember being so smart! Bullied mercilessly but so smart! So smart, I turned my mind to quantum physics…and discovered all the secrets of the universe! So now the universe bores me, so I'm gonna break it and remake it afterward if I feel like it!"

"Gargh stop being confusing!"

"I doubt he will do that, Friend Robert!" Starfire said, popping up next to Gauntlet. The only reason Gauntlet knew it was Starfire was because he recognized her voice. The alien was now human, dressed in a full body costume, had blue hair she'd cut short, and was carrying what seemed to be a very large flamethrower. "Let's just BURN through the troubles!"

"Pleasseee!" Fracture said, dodging the blast of flame Starfire sent roaring towards him. "I saw everything! I know how everything works! I can DO anything! I HAVE POWER! UNLLIMMMITTEDDD POWAAAAHHHHH!" Fracture said, and held out his hands as a storm of lightning blasted through the air at the Titans.

"That's number 8 on the things villains say before they lose!" Gauntlet said, blocking the lightning with a shield.

"Darn straight!" Beast Boy said, landing near Gauntlet, once again green…and now dressed in golden armor. "Hold him a moment longer, Gauntlet! KING OF BEASTS!"

The armor shifted on Beast Boy's form as he went down on all fours, charging and leaping through the air at Fracture. He connected, but Fracture quickly tossed him aside.

That just let Starfire bathe him in flame.

"Wheeee heee heeee heeeee!" Fracture said, and the blazing white light expanded from his body again.

"I REFUSE TO DIE AS A PRESUMABLY HOT GIRL!" Gauntlet yelled, and plunged into the incandescence.

* * *

Glass beneath his feet. Back at the crystal…

Wait, no. This wasn't the same. It wasn't a crystal floating in a weird dimension. It was just…a landscape made of glass…

The glass scar in the Sahara. Where the Lord had fallen (HA). Gauntlet had never actually been there…

And fortunately, if he ever did, he'd at least be in shoes he knew. His body was back to being male.

"Sweet! I missed you, organs!" Gauntlet said.

"That's nice, Gauntlet. Focus now." Robin said. Gauntlet glanced at Tim, and then looked again: Tim was dressed in a new, mostly red costume with a black hood.

"Nice arm…" Came another, new male voice. This time, the man was middle aged and appeared to be wearing some kind of body armor that the average SWAT or special forces team would wear. Besides that, his notable difference was the yellow and green arm attached to his left shoulder, said arm clearly not human and pulsing in a rather nauseating fashion.

"I never did appreciate my arm, before that empowered bastard tore it off…" Fracture said. "That scientist in the wrong end of town…I wonder if he would have still grafted this alien's limb on if he knew what a human mind with enough hate could do with it…hate and pain…more then enough for the whole universe…"

"This line again." Morgue said, back in costume and wielding a glowing red sword. "Gauntlet, get _your _arms up and let's go."

"What?" Gauntlet said, subconsciously trying to turn on the Gauntlet. It did, the golden-brown metal encasing one arm…and the black-purple metal encasing the other. "Huh?"

_Gauntlet and Adamantine, synchronization complete._

"I wonder if drugs would make this look normal." Gauntlet said, and slammed his arms together, firing a blue and gold ray directly at Fracture. The reality-bender yanked up a chunk of glass to block it, only for the beam to push the shield instead of breaking it, slamming it back to Fracture. Fracture re-appeared near the ground from a warp, and met Tim's staff and Sophie's sword, the pair wailing on Fracture for a moment before he yanked more glass out of the ground and threw it at him.

"HASSAN CHOP!" Gauntlet yelled, leaping and bringing the twin energies down on Fracture. The world exploded in white again.

* * *

Actual sand this time, with the sound of drifting waves and a city nearby. Another place Gauntlet hadn't been but recognized. The beaches of Light City.

"Well, at least the illogical scenery is nice."

"Logic has long fled this place, Gauntlet." Cyborg said. Well, Gauntlet thought it was Cyborg. Instead of the half man half machine Gauntlet knew, this Cyborg seemed to be composed entirely of a red alien metal, with glowing eyes and spikes for hair. "We must be victorious to restore it. I do warn you though, you may have some difficulty here."

"What do you…" Gauntlet said, looking down.

His arm was bare. There was no Gauntlet. On top of that, he was dressed completely in black, with kunai strapped to his chest and a ninjato at his side.

"…Guess mom got me to do my ninja exercises in this reality." Gauntlet said. "Though considering the Gauntlet doing inexplicable things is what's kept me alive until now…oh nuts."

"Do you want…truly…inexplicable…" The rasping voice said. This time, Fracture appeared to be a withered infant with black pits for eyes, floating in a field of twisting rainbow energy. "Imagine being born…a second out of time…out of sync with normal reality…trapped outside…seeing the world…aging a year for every hundred that past…seeing more and more as time crawled on…seeing all the things I'd be condemned not to have, or how so many waste what they have…seeing it all…until doing became possible…to UNDO ALL THINGS."

"You know, if you're controlling all of these origins you keep making for yourself, and correct me if I'm wrong here, couldn't you give yourself a PLEASANT back-story?" Gauntlet said.

"Ha ha ha…control? You think…a mortal shell…can encompass all there is? No. All it can do is drive you mad. And TEAR IT ALL DOWN." Fracture said, firing off whirling spirals. Gauntlet jumped out of the way, hurling his kunai with unerring aim, but the metal daggers veered away from Fracture, even as the spiral projectiles struck the ground and tore away sections of the beach, sucking a five foot sphere of sand and dirt into nothingness before disappearing. Cyborg fired off several lasers from his body; these actually hit, but all the blows did was make Fracture scream and cause the ground to explode in front of him, throwing both Cyborg and Gauntlet back.

"So, next plan?" Gauntlet said.

A rock platform floated down near Gauntlet, who glanced up. Terra had changed quite a bit: she had a new black and white outfit that looked like a cross between Raven and Starfire's (minus a cloak), now had short black hair, and her body, usually thin and stick-like, had become considerably larger all around.

"Yeah! I'm gonna punch that baby in the face!" Terra said, and surged forward, calling up clawing fingers of sand.

"I heartily endorse this new Terra." Gauntlet said, even as Terra hurled appendages of sand at Fracture, only for it to be sucked up in more consuming voids. "Okay, you know what? This is getting old."

"Circumstances suggest victory impossible. Activating self-destruct." Cyborg said.

"Oh COME ON!" Gauntlet said, and seeing no other option, yanked out his blade and charged, leaping towards Fracture as the world went white again.

* * *

A tuxedo.

He was in a tuxedo.

He also appeared to be in the throne room of the royal palace of Tamaran.  
"Oh sure, reality, go ahead and tease me."

"Reality does NO SUCH THING!" Scalpel cackled, his crazy red coat replaced with a white lab coat and a pair of thick goggles over his head. "Reality realizes! Actualizes! Sometimes it demonizes! Ahem, sorry Robert, lost control a moment."

"There's a lot of that going on, Scalpsano." Gauntlet said, looking at Fracture as he sat on the throne…wearing a purple and green outfit and mask that looked like a pack of Skittles had vomited on him. "Oh what now?"

"ONCE I WAS A MAN! I WORKED AT A PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY!" Fracture said in a tone that made Scalpel's look sane. "I was the best employee in a study of what causes evil behavior! But then one day I fell into a vat of the evil-causing chemical that didn't have a top on it for some reason! And…it gave me cancer! My medical bills forced me to turn to crime! But as it turns out, I didn't need all the money I stole because I got a HUGGEEE settlement from the company! So I bought amazing time/space powers on Ebay!"

"…And why did you decide to wail on reality until it broke?" Gauntlet said.

"My wife left me for the doctor! And the lawyer! And the CEO of Ebay! SIMULTANEOUSLY!"

A loud clanking noise sounded next to Gauntlet. It turned out to be the feet of an armored mech war suit, whose faceplate opened to reveal Sophie.

"Well, that would probably make me mad too."

"SCIENCE!" Scalpel said, waving his arms as circuitry lit up on them. All the metal in the room was seized up and hurled at Fracture, who promptly lit himself on fire and melted most of it before throwing blasts of heat at the trio.

"Wait, what does this have to do with being on Tamaran? How did anyone get to Tamaran?"

"Please just shoot him or something Gauntlet!" Sophie said, one of her mech arms opening and a freezing beam striking Fracture.

"Uh…okay, let's see what THIS does!" Gauntlet said, pulling out a cell phone. The end opened up and shot metal wires into Fracture, the cell phone melting down as it delivered a massive jolt of electricity to Fracture.

"You call that a taser? THIS IS A TASER!" Scalpel yelled, pulling what looked like a giant plug from somewhere and zapping Fracture with a lightning bolt. The second blast not only blew Fracture out the wall, but blew out the whole wall behind him.

"Oh yeah? Well check out my…playing cards?" Gauntlet said, looking at the deck in his hand. Before he could puzzle them out, a massive shudder struck the castle, and Gauntlet looked up as a pair of giant hands reached into the whole and tore the entire roof off, revealing a gigantic Fracture towering above the trio.

"I FEEL BIG AGAIN!" Fracture thundered, slamming a hand down.

"ARGH! WHY!" Gauntlet said, his tone indicating he wasn't even asking a question any more, but rather using a substitute for a four letter word. Sophie took to the air and spun, ripping energies generating off her suit and tearing into Fracture's hand, but it didn't stop the downward motion, even as the world went white again.

* * *

The Golden Gate bridge. The cars on it were abandoned, the air eerily silent and the sun shrouded behind clouds.

"Oh COME ON!" Gauntlet said, his latest transformation appearing to be a short, human-like body dressed in green, most of the hair on his head having been moved to his feet. "Everything ELSE, you could see it as an alternate reality. But this is just totally random! There is no way we could be like this!"

"Can you fight, Gauntlet?" Robin said, his outfit now having some blue mixed in, replacing the green aspects of his normal costume.

"Well, as long as I have combat advantage, my sneak attack feat gives me an extra 2D6 damage, so sure, we'll give it a go."

"I think we may have some trouble getting ANY sort of advantage, dude." Beast Boy said, wearing a red and white costume and what appeared to be a pot with antenna on his head.

Several cars were hurled aside as the form rose up, a massive snake, the anaconda from hell, strange mechanical devices fused to its head that gave it a cobra-like fanning hood. Its sickly skin glowed with horrendous energies, the venom dripping from its fangs eating into the concrete beneath it.

"_**I AM**__**…**__**THE UROBOROS**__**…**__**THE SERPENT THAT DEVOURS TIME**__**…**__**THE GAMMA CONSTRICTOR.**__**"**_ Fracture rasped through the reptile's mouth. _**"**__**FLESH**__**…**__**EMOTIONS**__**…**__**POSSIBILITIES**__**…**__**ALL FOOD FOR MY JAWS.**__**"**_

"What about a breath mint?" Gauntlet said.

"Good idea." Robin said, as he picked up a car and sent it hurling end over end to bash Fracture upside the head. Gauntlet stared.

"Oh this is just not fair! All I have this sling! And some rocks!" Gauntlet said.

"Do your best." Robin said, flying up and lancing towards Fracture.

"Yeah, dude, I was a little jealous myself, but hey, he was the grieving moron who spliced his DNA's with Connor's. I'd say we made out pretty well." Beast Boy said. Fracture lashed out with its tail, bashing several more cars and sending them flying towards the pair, before Beast Boy held out his hands and sent waves of semi-visible force to knock them aside.

"Let's go!" Beast Boy said, before his body abruptly grew, the green teenager becoming fifty feet tall in a few seconds as he stomped down the bridge towards Fracture.

"…okay rocks, it's David and Goliath time!" Gauntlet said, running after Beast Boy. Fracture knocked Robin away as the giant was reaching him, Beast Boy grappling with the snake before Fracture rammed him into the side of the bridge, Beast Boy's massive form almost snapping through the cables and falling off. Fracture re-adjusted his position just in time for the smooth stone to bounce off his head, and he turned burning eyes towards Gauntlet.

"…_**HA. HA HA.**__**"**_ Fracture said, needles of energy beginning to be drawn in around his head. Gauntlet saw the cars around Fracture abruptly become shiny and new, and then disappear, the road beneath him reverting to a far cruder stone and the metal bridge losing its color and shape.

"_**BEAM OF ACCELERATED CHRONO-PARTICLES BEATS ROCK!**__**"**_

"ARGH!" Gauntlet yelled, leaping to the side. Even without his gauntlet, he made great air, the gray beam sweeping over where he had been. The cars caught in its blast rusted and crumbled, the bridge beneath it similarly breaking apart under the weight of ages. Gauntlet didn't bother watching any more, as Robin had returned to punch Fracture into the ground, head first, before the serpent lashed out with its tail and knocked Robin into Beast Boy.

Fracture brought its head up just in time for Gauntlet to ram his dagger into its eye and all the way into the time engines fused to its brain.

"KNIFE TO THE EYE BEATS MOST ANYTHING!"

Fracture shrieked, and everything exploded in white.

* * *

The ground was still cold, Gauntlet discovered, as he found himself sitting on the crystal, the Titans around him. Gauntlet's complaint was cut off when he realized he was back in his traditional outfit, complete with Gauntlet ring on his finger.

"Ah, my feet are smooth and sensuous again." Gauntlet said, looking around at the Titans. To his relief, they were all also back in their traditional outfits.

"I would celebrate…" Scalpel said, once again whole and without a Red Lantern ring, using his glaive to help himself up. "Except we're still here."

"And Noel and Raven are still missing." Morgue said, finally in the costume that made her worthy of the name.

"I can deal with that." Terra said, holding up her hands as her 'warstones' came out of her battle jacket. "Ha ha. Rock on."

"Yes…on a rock of ages…" Fracture said, and the Titans looked up at the time-manipulator, back in the form of Isolde Collins, the woman inspecting her hand. "Hmmm, this origin again. I wonder if that means something."

"It's the real origin, and reality is made of sterner stuff then you thought?" Gauntlet said.

"Ah, but that begs the question, Robert Candide…if I am the true self of all this…then how did you never have a clue I existed?"

"There are lots of people I don't have a clue exists. If I walk out of an airport in Paris, I guarantee I'll meet a bunch of people I didn't know exist. Don't read too much into things." Gauntlet said.

"Well put, Robert." Robin said, the Titans assembling around him. "All right Fracture. You've tried to bury us in possibilities and what-ifs. Why don't you just give us back our teammates and erase yourself from existence if your powers are such a misery?"

"Hmmmmmm…hmmmmmm. Nah." Fracture said, rainbow energy surging from her form.

"All right then…" Robin said. "TITANS…!"

"I said, 'NAH'." Fracture said, and snapped her fingers.

**WARNING: FANFICTION DOT NET FILE CORRUPTED. RETRIEVING REMAINING FRAGMENTS.**

"_Have some more!__'__ Gauntlet yelled, Starfire firing energy into his Gauntlet hand as he hurled the converted spears at Fracture._

_...  
_

"_WE GOT IT NIGE!__"__ Cyborg whooped as he and Nigel flew through the air, their feet slamming into the crystal target._

...

"_By the logic of relativity, a bullet fired at near-light speed gains nearly infinite mass. How well do you think you would shrug that off, Richard?__"__ Morgue said, and pulled the trigger._

_...  
_

"_I am a human being. FIND OUT WHAT THAT ENTAILS!__"__ Robin roared, and tore the creature__'__s heart out._

_...  
_

"_THIS__…__IS A DOOM HOUSE!__"__ Terra yelled, bringing the structure crashing down on Fracture._

_...  
_

_(WRITER__'__S NOTE: WOW! That was the best fight scene I ever wrote! 300 pages! Sure it took me six months and gave me carpal tunnel, but it was WORTH IT!)_

With a nearly silent groan, Starfire crumpled to the ground, joining the limp and ravaged bodies of all her teammates.

"There we go! Through all the hugga-mugga and right to the ending!" Fracture said, and skipped off. Gauntlet blinked through blackened eyes, wondering if he could still move his jaw.

"…If I…didn't know better…I could swear she just fast-forwarded through our epic last stand."

"Yep!" Fracture tossed over her shoulder.

"Lord…she's like Deadpool…except without anything that makes Deadpool…Deadpool."

("Hey, he said my name three times! Can I come out of a mirror and demand royalties?"

"It's a fanfic, Wade."

"Yeah well your mom's…a fanfic…eh, if you aren't paying me, I'm not gonna give you A Material.")

"Funny how life works, doesn't it? All those dangers and threats…and what happens? The universe gives some random person everything, and they decide to tear it all apart. And somehow it involves you. Your lives just plain suck." Fracture said. "So, anyone want to go first?"

Gauntlet coughed a small amount of blood onto the ground, and somehow found himself standing up.

It couldn't end this way. It would end some day, and in many possible ways…but Gauntlet wasn't going to let it be this way.

"Oh, the clown. Okay!" Fracture said, holding up a hand, gathering her rainbow energies.

"…I asked you to do something…after all this, all she did…all I'm asking…is for the other shoe to drop. You can't just…pull this crap…without consequences…!" Gauntlet said. "Quite frankly…after all the reset buttons and reality changes you allowed to let yourself continue…I don't expect you to just roll over and take it…so…I have the magic…dance magic…something…ANYTHING!" Gauntlet said, and thrust out his hand.

He felt a faint quiver in his arm, and then the light on the Gauntlet went dead.

"…fiddlesticks." Gauntlet said.

Black light bloomed in Fracture's power…

Turning into a tumbling black form that landed on her.

"…did I just summon Dorothy?" Gauntlet said.

A wave of power erupted off Fracture, sending the yelling form tumbling through the air. It did a quick flip before landing, its feet dragging across the ground.

"What the…did I actually take the wrong turn at Albuquerque?" Metatron said.

"Oh god damnit, HIM again? I didn't think he existed!" Gauntlet yelled.

"Oh, are we at the point in the timeline when I get erased from existence? I always liked that bit. Nice, dramatic, and heartfelt." Metatron said. "Not a dry eye in the room. Soft, tear-jerking orchestra playing my last goodbyes too."

"And you'll be in my heart…" Phil Collins sang on a nearby piano.

"Oh god not you." Metatron said, blasting the musician away. A moment later, Fracture's amused laughter drifted over to the pair, even as the other, fallen Titans watched in confusion.

"Ha ha ha…really? The chaos-spawn? This is what you link up with the universe to manifest as a last resort? Really?" Fracture said.

"She's mean." Metatron said.

"Yeah, look, my dumb malfunctioning armkerjigger summoned you, so make like a good pokemon and fire a hyperbeam up her god moding Sue ass!"

"Her? Wow, Ricky got a makeover this year. You know, I saw it coming." Metatron said, even as he began to run.

"I am not the Lord, morningchylde. He pales in comparison. I am everything, and nothing, and now, you will be nothing too." Fracture said, thrusting out her hands and firing waves of rainbow energy.

The power washed over Metatron…whose only result was making his hair grow a few inches.

"…pardon?" Fracture said.

"Oh yeah, I've become unstuck from the natural flow of time and my own dimension. It's how I got dragged here. Also, you know time/space mucking-with powers? Because of what I've become, they're kinda iffy with me." Metatron said, running towards Fracture. "NOW WE KUNG FU FIGHT!"

"Oh reality better magic me up like FIVE girlfriends when we're done with this to make up for today!"

"Well, there's a chance of that. You have like three candidates as it is." Metatron said, twirling and dodging around Fracture's blasts, steadily zig-zagging towards her. 'Like, the ninja chick with the great legs. Or the ninja chick with the great chest. Or Amy." Metatron said, doing one final flip and twirl to land on Fracture's shoulders. "You know, Amy? Girl next door? Wants to have your baby? Oh wait, you don't know that yet do you? Well, she does."

"WHAT?"

"Oh don't worry about it. Chances are we'll all forget this ever happened by the end of it anyway." Metatron said. Fragments of the crystal floor broke off and flew towards the half-demon, who leapt off to dodge them, landing and doing the jazz hands flourish afterwards. "Either that or you'll just conveniently forget THIS bit of info."

"Wait, I don't know ANY ninjas! Regardless of the quality of their body parts!"

"Really? You need to bond with your mom more!" Metatron said, dodging more blasts of entropy. "Incidentally, I liked the one with the great legs! What's with you? Breasts aren't everything you know. Way to rise above your gender, Rob! Also, YOU."

Metatron leapt and rolled in, getting face to face with Fracture.

"I've been trying to turn your brain to ash for the past forty seconds. Now, my usual brand of enemy is commonly immune to that, but _you _aren't like that, are you? So why isn't it working again?"

The crack of the blow echoed across the crystal as Metatron went flying. Gauntlet barely managed to catch him in a way that didn't knock both of them over.

"Ow. I think she Star-punched me. Or used a limit break. Or…some other video game reference I suddenly feel the urge to say." Metatron said.

"DAMNIT, SOMEONE START TALKING STRAIGHT OR ELSE I'LL SNAP!" Gauntlet yelled.

"You are not the last great hope, Metestasnathean." Fracture said. "Maybe my powers can't work well on you, but they still work well on me. You were right. This is where your existence is erased."

"Then I demand Coldplay's Viva La Vida to play in the background. That song is so me, you know?" Metatron grinned, steam erupting from his pores as he dashed forward.

"THAT'S IT! I'M SNAPPING!" Gauntlet roared, and formed a prosthetic leg with yellow energy before he also charged in, babbling insane nonsense.

"Wow. Five minutes with me is all it took to break Rob." Metatron said, looking pleased.

The look faded when Fracture warped over and seized him by the throat. With a wave of her hand, a rainbow energy wave washed over Gauntlet.

For about three seconds, Gauntlet got the unique experience of what it felt like to be turned inside out. The experience was not painful, but it still stopped him cold, falling to his knees.

"Not good enough." Fracture said, and slammed Met into the ground.

Gauntlet wasn't really watching, his sight having blurred, and unconsciousness beckoning to him. The calm, comforting darkness.

Another yell and the sight of Metatron falling and crashing to the ground in front of him quickly destroyed the appeal of the notion.

"You know…you can still help." Metatron said.

"Right…you got any ideas? I've been slogging against this for like…well, I have no idea, because my watch and cell phone got lost when I was a girl in a miniskirt…but back on topic. Progress is not being made."

"Well, my usual strategy of hitting things until something cool or implausible happens isn't working either." Metatron said, still flat on his back. "By gum, a victory we actually have to earn? This might be the greatest fight of our generation."

"So. How do you deal with an enemy that knows what you do before YOU know it?"

"You do something so ridiculously half-cocked and retarded the enemy can either stare stupefied at how ridiculous we are, making them easy pickings, or laugh so much at our stupidity, she dies with a smile on her face, making us the nicest killers since the Joker." Metatron said. "Or she lets us do this retarded idea, and we die horribly as a result of it, which is the thing that would probably happen. So I'm going back to my usual strategy of hitting things."

"…thanks for the help, by the way." Gauntlet said. "Whatever happens, I don't like you, 'cause you sorta steal the show whenever you come around, but…well, you're welcome to this nonsense."

"Well that's good to hear from your possible deathmate! Maybe now you can stop failing and think of a plan! Time and space are completely out to lunch! Anything's possible! You're all a smart lot, think of something new!" Metatron said, flipping to his feet and looking at Fracture, who had seemingly been standing there waiting. "I'M A TARGET! LOOK AT ME, I'M A TARGET!" Metatron said, running back in.

"True to yourself to the end." Fracture said, and blurred through the air, another cracking blow sending Metatron flying.

"…what was I thinking…" Gauntlet said. "Really, what…I mean…"

"_You__'__re all a smart lot__…__time and space are out to lunch!__"_

"…That's it. It's stupid, but logic is CLEARLY on vacation in the Poconos!…wow, I have the Poconos on the brain today. I guess I should go there after I complete Operation Shouldn't Work According To Science!"

"You always were an intriguing specimen, chaosling." Fracture said. Metatron had gotten back up, and with a clap of his hands sent waves of burning heat washing over Fracture; the time-weaver ignored it. "But not enough to stave off the inevitable."

"Really? Then let me tell you about my morning!" Met replied, cracking his neck as he began leisurely walking around, acting like his injuries didn't bother him the slightest. "It begins with me waking up to my alarm clock in the shape of an imploding sun that's taking the Earth with it. Stopped that with several thousand miles of string and a LOT of matches. But oh, no, then it was time to deal with the New Jersey sized chunk of ice collapsing down on…New Jersey, 'cause Mab was being emotional. Stopped THAT the same way. Then came the Barrens, the Screams to Y'thul, the Screams of Morgan Freeman, the Silence-for a change-of the Morning, and Smoothie Break! Of course, afterwards I ran into a friend of mine who was desperately trying to save his new fez-which, as it turns out, are apparently cool-from laser-wielding curly-haired madwomen. That one was sorta easy, as all it took was his redhead friend trying to have sex with me for some reason. Then came the year I spent trapped in a completely organically-deserted planet with no other company than a diluted version of a creature whose very existence is such a complete and total antithesis to everything in creation, it makes your adorable belief that you can 'end everything' just the PERFECT joke to tell it over drinks. It was bored and decided a good way to spend the rest of existence was to try to drive me insane. It did. I got better. Then I blew up the planet and got away. Immediately following that, I found myself saving this kid some guys wanted to sacrifice to… do something. I never did bother to find out before I left. Did get stabbed on the chest for it, though. Now, you're probably thinking that this is a big spiel leading up to me telling you that I don't stave off the inevitable, that SLAPPING the inevitable in the rear and then laugh at it, before feeling bad, having a change of heart and getting it some therapy, is what I do every minute of every day. But no, that's not what I'm getting at, that's simply what's implied. What's important is what comes next. I get home, and Ryce makes me pancakes. In a thong," Met pauses, smiling pleasantly. "And those… are GREAT pancakes. Moreso with a beautiful girl curling up in your lap. And as I leave again, she clings to me and snuggles, giving me that cute, shy, small smile she gives only to me… and says 'you know how happy you make me?'"

Metatron tilted his head, his eyes shinning and faraway, to the point where Fracture wondered if he was still even aware she was there.

"And she says it in such a strange, tentative, mildly-confused tone. Like she didn't realize that could happen. And then we say good-bye with a syrup-flavored kiss."

Metatron's eyes snapped to meet with the time-weaver's.

"…And you know what? She wants to do it all again tomorrow." Metatron said, smiling softly. "Making your adorable small-minded machinations, little thing, completely worthless. There'll be a tomorrow. And I'll be eating pancakes in it. Now come on. Rant done. Blast me away and do the 'hahahah, you so stupid' thing that people ALWAYS think will matter. See you in several dozen lines when you get beaten."

"…like I said. Always fascinating." Fracture said, raising a hand. "But it doesn't fix your problem."

"What if _WE_ fixed the problem?" Gauntlet said.

"Oh, have you gotten some of your friends…" Fracture said, turning around.

For the first time, a look of stunned surprise dawned on her face.

"You might say that." Gauntlet said.

"…what did you do?" Fracture said.

"It's what YOU did, Fracture. You completely violated every law of sense and sensibility. Probably why my Gauntlet was able to do all these neat tricks. It's a tool made to fix things, and desperate times call for desperate measures. And since you're so damn overpowered and cheap that it's clear none of us can defeat you, well…" Gauntlet said, gesturing around himself. "I just had to work out a proper way to define _NONE.__"_

Gauntlet was no longer alone. The Titans had not stood up to join him though (they had, however, stood up).

Instead, Gauntlet was now surrounded by hundreds of new forms.

Forms that, even for all their myriad of different looks, were all united in one surefire aspect. They were all, in some way, Gauntlet.

"So I figure, you like playing que sera, sera? Then maybe with all the damage you've done, I can just show off every single _BE _that _COULD_ be." Gauntlet said. "So step away from the spotlight stealer. I'm sure a few of us don't like him, but we're _ALL _sick of you."

"…heh. This doesn't change anything. This…" Fracture said, before she jerked her head to the side.

Gauntlet hadn't said anything to his teammates, but sometimes words were not needed to inspire. Or to make one understand what had to be done.

For all the other Titans had begun multiplying as well, spectral forms shooting off their bodies and solidifying around them.

"No! No! Stop it!" Fracture yelled, firing blasts at the rapidly growing number of people, creatures, and elsewise around her. Her attacks did nothing to stem the tide of Titans, the army swiftly growing into the thousands.

"Well what do you know." Metatron said, now the only Titan all by his lonesome. "It just took more punches then usual."

Fracture turned and fired off another beam of entropy. This time, the attack turned Metatron's outfit yellow.

"…Do I get dual key-blades too?"

"TITANS, ALL TOGETHER NOW!" Gauntlet yelled.

Fracture flew up into the air and fired off more entropy blasts, as well as several other projectile attacks. The offense cut dozens of Titans down, but the rest of the army took their place, swarming Fracture under an endless, ferocious offensive rain. Fracture's shrieking defiance grew every second, but it didn't make the Titan legions waver in the slightest.

"STOP IT! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! I DESERVE THIS! YOU WON'T TAKE IT AWAY! YOU WON'T!" Fracture screamed, redoubling her efforts, and then redoubling them again.

"WE CAN AND WE WILL!"

The Titans rained down another hammer-storm of attacks, and across Fracture's body cracks began to erupt. Gauntlet could feel the sheer pressure bearing down on him, the overwhelming weight of the energies Fracture was channeling.

Maybe if she'd had actual experience to go with her power, things would have been different. But for all her mastery of time, experience was something that Fracture hadn't thought she'd needed more of.

Cracks of light began streaming from her body, even as the Titans continued their assault. Fracture had stopped even trying to defend, floating in place, her mouth open in a silent scream.

"…well, now what?" A Beast Boy said.

"KEEP HITTING HER!" Gauntlet yelled, and reared back and fired the biggest yellow energy fist he could muster up directly into the time-weaver.

An odd jolt ran down Gauntlet's arm.

"Time. Can you actually kill it?" Fracture said.

A load roaring whoosh sounded in Gauntlet's ears, even as Fracture's form completely vanished, streams of rainbow light engulfing all the Titans.

"Survey says: Shut up." Gauntlet replied.

Once again, the white consumed all.

* * *

The first thing Gauntlet heard as he opened his eyes was the sound of his shower running.

Jerking up, Gauntlet looked around at his room and the bed he was in. Just like when this had started.

Except this time, his shower was running.

Gauntlet sprang out of bed, taking a second to yank on some pants and a shirt before he advanced over to the shower, Gauntlet at the ready as he went into the bathroom and pulled open the shower door.

"Really, Gauntlet? Head and Shoulders?" Metatron said, standing there as he washed the last of the shampoo out of his eyes. "I didn't know you had dandruff."

"Exactly." Gauntlet said, closing the door and heading back out. Several seconds later, Metatron followed, having dried off via his powers, said following a series of hops as he got his pants on.

"Hope you don't mind me using the shower. Ryce hates it when I come out of a near-erasure of everything smelling rank."

"Oh, no problem. That just happened, right?"

"What just happened?"

"That Crisis on Finite Earths? Countdown to Randomness? A Civil War that pitted geometry against causality in a duel to the death? I don't know WHAT to call it."

"Oh yeah. That happened." Metatron said. "No one knows it did except you and me, but it happened. Heck, I'll bet even you and me have forgotten tiny bits and pieces of it. You probably don't remember about Amy…"

"Amy? What about Amy?"

"Exactly." Metatron said, pulling his upper half of his costume on. "And I don't remember…whatever I don't remember."

"You don't remember about that fifty bucks you owe me."  
"Nope, I don't. You're right about that." Metatron said, digging into his pockets. "Here, have Noel's credit card."

"I don't remember you taking this…and this is a Bat-Credit Card." Gauntlet said.

"What can I say? He's really into Batman." Metatron said, shrugging.

"…Y'know what REALLY bugged me?" Gauntlet said. "I haven't seen a story so flimsy since Slade's early fights with the team. I have NO idea what Fracture was after, there was no REAL motivation. Things just happened, and then they DIDN'T happen. It's funny how you take causality for granted until you don't have it any more!"

"Oh this happened all across the DC Universe. Amazing stuff. Probably would need at least nine issues. Crossover with everything." Metatron said. "Probably caused some changes. Who knows what changes. You should be thankful that some changes don't stick around. Like after that mess with the Anti-Monitor and Billy Batson's codeword becoming 'Oi Vey' for several months, remember that? You don't. Or when Cass Cain decided her sudden love for illiteracy until the end of time after reading _Twilight_…and then became evil for some reason. That didn't make sense. But then the Amazons attacked! …Also didn't make much sense. Sometimes, you gotta take the weirdness, and be grateful for the good, and for the Justice League, always watching over us…from their underwater base below the polar caps. Good for stealth and strategizing against alien attacks. Well, at least they don't float around in the atmosphere like total jackasses saying 'COME GET US, ALIEN MENACES. I DARE YOU.' I'm just glad they took care of last month's vampire plushie menace that wanted to eat girl's ovaries…What the hell was that about anyway?"

"All of that went RIGHT over my head." Gauntlet said.

"As it should."

"So…only you and I remember this happened. Why us?" Gauntlet said.

"Well, like I said. I've been unstuck from any set path. When things go and re-organize everything down to the last atom, I always get missed." Metatron said. "You? You got me. Maybe it has something to do with your gauntlet. Limits only defined by the wearer, and all. Or maybe the mechanics of these worlds like your hair and decide to make you special because of it. You know, like on Tamaran."

"Ugh. Don't remind me of THAT nonsense."

"Sure. What else can we complain about? How underused the rest of the Titans seemed in this tale? Well, except Sophie, that was badass what she did with the gun. How about the briefness of your solution to the problem? I'm sure also that girl will be mad her favorite shipping couple didn't even get any lines and…uh oh." Metatron said. "Yeah, looks like I'm on my way again. Now that I'm done being shifted into this, I'm going back to wherever else I was headed. I guess you'll have to tell the others about what happened. If you want to."

"Psht. They never believe me about this sort of stuff. I'll just add a file on everything about Fracture in case she ever shows up again."

"I think you kinda erased her from all planes of existence."

"And I spent parts of today with boobs or furry feet. I'm taking NOTHING for granted."

"Right then." Metatron said, golden sparks beginning to fly from his body. "I'm off! So MAYYYY THE SCHHWARTTTZZZ BE WITH YOUUU OHWOWOWOWOW what a world what a world…!"

In one swift distortion, Metatron's body seemed to collapse on itself, swirling up and vanishing from Gauntlet's room with a slight popping noise.

"…Right then. Well, back to…nothing in particular." Gauntlet said, walking over and sitting on his bed. "I think I deserve a DS break. You know what, I think I'll actually challenge Fire Man first this…"

A loud rapping noise sounded behind Gauntlet, specifically at his window. More specifically, it had wrapped out the famous five-tone song from _Close Encounters of the Third Kind._

"…unless that's who I think it is, I have NO patience for being probed." Gauntlet said, getting up and walking over to the window before opening the blinds.

A white-gloved hand waved at him, attached to a green arm. Before Gauntlet could react further, the alien superhero known as Miss Martian used his intangibility power to phase her upper body through the armored window.

"Hi Rob! Oh, you're up! I was worried I'd have mixed up the AM's and PM's again!" Miss Martian said. "So, you're setting the itinerary for your day off today, what's happening?"

"Well, Megan, humans are diurnal. So unless there's caffeine and video games involved, it's safe to say we'll be up when the sun's up. As for today…y'know what I'm in the mood for? Let's just go to the park or something. I want to take some time to smell the roses just to prove to myself there's something real out there."

"Sure!" Miss Martian said, phasing back out. Gauntlet was about to turn around when she phased back in.

"Oh yes, trying a new lip gloss. What do you think?" Miss Martian said, reaching up and pulling Gauntlet in for a close-in inspection with lasted several seconds.

"Hmmm, strawberry kiwi? I think it's a nice choice, but I wouldn't mind getting some more samples…"

"Aw aw, you said you didn't want to get probed today." Miss Martian said, shaking a finger before phasing out, smiling mischievously at Gauntlet, and then flying up and out of sight.

"…I would almost swear I'm somehow mentally affecting her, but…nah." Gauntlet said. "Hm. Okay, so…what's the difference between what I saw and what's going on here? What if something changed and I didn't know it? Oh god, what if, right this minute, I'm still that magical girl version of me and Ms. Martian was a lesbian all along! Time to investigate!"

A quick trip to the mirror in Gauntlet's room confirmed this was not true.

"Phew, nope, still me." Gauntlet said, looking at the mirror. "I guess I just can't worry about it. If I don't think anything's changed, then I guess it hasn't. And I don't feel existential enough to assume this is all a dream."

"No." Fracture said, appearing from nowhere behind Gauntlet, causing him to whirl around in horror. "It's _NOT.__"_

Hands crashed through the window, and Gauntlet was pulled screaming into the dark.

_**THE END**_

…_**Okay not really.**_

Gauntlet stared at the mirror. He had a strange feeling that he was still missing something.

"My weird movie reference sense is tingling." Gauntlet said, walking back to his bed and picking up his DS once more. "I'd better have that looked at."

_**THE REAL END**_


End file.
